St. Patrick and the early Church of Ireland

"

SAINT PATRICK,

AND

THE EARLY CHURCH OF IRELAND.

BY THE

REV. WM. M. BLACKBURN, D.D.,

AUTHOR Of

'WILLIAM PAML," "Aoino PALIARIO," " ULRICH ZWINOU," ETC., Era

I'lIILADELPHIA:

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION,
No. 821 CHESTNUT STREET.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by

THE TRUSTEES OF TH»

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

WJSSTOOTT * THOMSOK,
Stereotype™, Philada.

CONTENTS.

PREFACE.

The Myth and the Man— Book of Armagh— Writings of
Saint Patrick— Evidences of Authenticity— Other Ancient
Authorities— Modern Writers 7

CHAPTER I.
HOME AND PAi

Alc-lnyd— Good Blood— Potitus the Presbyter— Calpurnius
the Deacon, and Decurio — Culdee Cells— Conchessa— First
Missions in Scotland— Ninian, a specimen 21

CHAPTER II.
THE YOUNO CAPTIVE.

Patrick Baptized— Foolish Legends— The Lad not a Saint-
Pirates— Patrick Sold in In-land— T»-iids the Cattle-
Rough Days— Remembers his Sins— Turns to God— His
Religion ••

CHAPTER III.
THE ESCAPE.

Dreams — The Fugitive — On Shipboard — A Storm — A Desert
—A Strange Spell— Home Again— Dreams of Ireland— Will

be a Missionary &4

3

4 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

THE FAILURES OF PALLADIUS.

Early Missions in Ireland — Churches — Celestine Interested
— Palladius Sent— Not well Received— Goes to Scotland—
His Disciples — Servanus — Ternanus 63

CHAPTER V.
SIFTING THE LEGENDS.

Germanus — Stories of Patrick's Wanderings — Climax of
Fable— Was Patrick ever at Rome ?— Was he Sent forth
by the Bishop of Rome ? — Silence of Ancient Authors on
the Question — Sechnall — Fiacc — Prosper — Bede — Patrick
Confounded with Palladius — Silence of the Confession —
Roman Mission a Legend 75

CHAPTER VI.
AMONG THE DATES.

When did Patrick go to Ireland to Preach? — Where Labour
before he Went? — Any ties with Germanus? — Germanus
and Lupus in Britain — Glastonbury — Movement in Ar-
morica — Patrick Goes to Ireland — Young at Forty-five 96

CHAPTER VII.

FIRST LABOURS OF PATRICK IN IRELAND.

An Affrighted Herdsman— A Wrathy Master— Patrick not a
Pirate— Fury Calmed— Preaching in a Barn— A Church
Rises— Patrick's Visit to his Old Master— Repulse— Look
ing toward Tarah — The Young Benignus — Patrick's Tent
before Tarah... .. 110

CONTENTS. 6

CHAPTER VIII.

THE DRUIDS.

Cutt ng the Mistletoe— Sacrifices— Baal— Sun-worship —
Druids' Doctrines— Priests— Superstitions— Holy Wells —
Charms— Bel tine Fires— Bards— Scotch Plaids— Irish Hos
pitality — Danger from the Druids 123

CHAPTER IX.

SAINT PATRICK'S ARMOUR.

Great Feaat at Tarah— King sees Patrick's Fire— Tho Court
on the Move — Patrick in the Great Hall Preaching— Duh-
tach and Fiacc Listen— The Hymn of Patrick 140

CHAPTER X.

CAUSES OF SUCCESS.

A Commanding Presence— Conall Converted— Mode of
Teaching— King's Daughters— Doctrine of the Trinity—
JTf Lj>ygnd of the Shamrock — Treatment of Superstition —
The Crora-cru:i k destroys the Great Idol —
Pagan Customs A-l.-pt. •<! by Christians — Centres of Influ
ence — Love of riniifcrin^- Enthusiasm — Patrick's Ex
tended Travels — Daring Spirit — Goes into Connaupht —
Robbed — Y .:••«! — Km 1 urn nn •<--!:. -fn-a Is of Gifta —
Attention to Young Men — i:.->l,'mj>tion of Captives — All
done in the Name of the Lord — Willing to be a Martyr —
Power of Prayer— National F.T -y in
Ireland — Persecution — Patrick's Charioteer dies in place
of his Master— The Leinster Men... 151

6 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XI.
PATRICK'S CREED.

His Confession — Tillemont's View of it — The Doctrines in it
— Occasion of the Epistle to Coroticus — Christian Captives
— Noble Appeal by Patrick — An Embassy Scorned — Doc
trines of the Epistle 183

CHAPTER XII.
THE CHURCH OF SAINT PATRICK.

Theme of Controversy — Students under Patrick — Cell of
Ciaran— Culdee System of Schools— Young Men ordained
Bishops— Fiacc made Bishop of Sletty— Certain Conclu
sions — More Bishops than Churches — Her Synods — Glory
of the Early Irish Church — The Decline — Invasions by
Danes and English— Henry II. delivers Ireland to the
Pope — Two Churches in Ireland — Strange Reversions in
History 196

CHAPTER XIII.
LAST DAYS.

Reform of the Laws— Patrick's Purgatory— Old Age — Toiling
to the Last— St. Brigid— Patrick dies— Ireland in grief—
"Litany of St. Patrick"— Canonization— True Character... 220

PREFACE.

THERE is profit in " guesses at truth," when they expose
errors long and widely prevalent They are like links of
circumstantial evidence, no one of them sinirry of much
positive value, but when joined and welded, they make a
chain not easily broken. They are probabilities, and,
according to their degree of -tremrth. they afford convictions
of certainty. I do not claim to set forth in this volume a
series of events all of which are the undoubted verities of
hi.-tory. I do claim that the statements are as near to the
complete truth concerning the subject treated as it has
been possible for me to exhibit them after long and labo
rious research.

No r<uie.-^i..n i- made t<» -iijier>titiini by giving the title
of u saint" to the man whose name has become so popular,
and, after fourteen hundred \v:irs. i> .-till a> fresh as the
hhamrurk and L'lven :i< the emerald. Without the title he
would hardly be identified or seen in his distinctive
character. A good gospel word was abused when Rome
assumed to confer u]>on eminent <fhri.-ti:m< the honour of
being saints, and limited tlie term to them. By the New
tment charter we may claim it for all true ChristUMM,
however humble or unknown
7

PREFACE.

Was there ever such a man as Saint Patrick ? It was wise
to consider this question before attempting to write his life.
By some it has been doubted, by a few others denied. But
in such cases there has usually been a strong party feeling,
or an ignorance of certain original sources of history. There
is a distinction to be made between the myth and the man.
Imagination has given us a Robinson Crusoe ; the real man
was Alexander Selkirk. The Saint Patrick of the ordinary
Irish heart is certainly very mythical. The portrait of him
was drawn from imagination ; the colours are not those of
the fifth, but those of the twelfth or fourteenth century.
The deeds are manufactured to order and by the job, and
the life is made of the baldest legends. This Patrick is a
fully-developed Papist of the time, when certain errors pre
vailed, which he could not have known in the fifth century.
He is constantly working miracles, some of them very
trifling, and some of them astounding, beyond all that was
ever recorded of a mere man. For his especial benefit
divine revelations are made to him, which cause a greater
amazement than any ever made to Moses or Paul. He is
too wonderful to be real. The myth business was entirely
overdone. The manufacturers did not perceive that com
mon sense might some time be restored to the human race.

In the Middle Ages "it was customary with the monks
to exercise their scholars in writing the lives of imaginary
saints ; asserting that it was a pious and very improving
way of exercising the imagination ! ! The best of these
fanciful biographies were laid aside for future use ; and
after the lapse of a few ages, when their statements could
not be disproved, were produced and published as genuine.

PREFACE. 9

It is said the monks of Holywell applied to De Stone, a
writer of the thirteenth century, to write for them the life
of their patron saint. He asked for materials, but on being
informed that they had none, he volunteered to write
it without any. In this way the lives of St. Patrick were
greatly multiplied, and were filled with the most marvellous
legends." *

Dr. Geoffrey Keating, more than two hundred years ago,
said: " We an- informed by a manuscript chronicle of
antiquity that sixty-four persons have severally written the
lif«- of this reverend mis-iimary." As to the " antiquity." it
would not have been so very antique wit li iim-t of them.
Dr. Lanigan, a Roman Catholic historian, felt ashamed of
the legend-makers, and he says of these lives that "they
are full of fall. •-,. and seem to have been copied, either
from each other, or from some common repository in which
such stories have been collected. It would be idle to nn-n-
tion the many proof- which they exhibit of being patched
up at a late period." And Bollandus, one of their learned
writer ii.eniin-r them, "They have been patched

ber by iiM»>t fabulous authors, and are none of them
more anr-i.-nt than the twelfth century." This is not said
of all the account- "riven of Patrick by the annali-N. ><mie
of whom wrote at a much earlier period. It is said of the
fuller lives. In them is seen Patrick, the myth.

Very different was the man Patrick. If we strip away
the burdening growth of wild ivies, we may get at the

• Ireland and the Irish, by Kirwan (Rev. N. Murray. T>.I>.)
This title was given to a seriv- «.f 1. 1 tors publirhed in the N. Y.
Observer, 1856, and to which I am much indebted.

10 PREFACE.

genuine sturdy oak of his character. Even the grossest
fables may have a foundation in fact. Often in the legends
of the monks there can be traced a thread of historic truth.
If we cast away the rubbish without sifting, we may lose a
few gems hidden in the mass. If we allow that the so-
called miracles of Patrick are most absurd, it does not at
all follow that the history is a romance. Dr. Murray said :
" Whilst there are many and good reasons for the rejection
of the lives of Saint Patrick as so many monkish fables, as
stupid as they are nonsensical, yet that there was a very de
voted and greatly useful missionary of that name, endued with
apostolical zeal, in Ireland, and about the time to which
history refers, we are compelled to admit. ' '

Traditions are of some value in regard to his existence
and general history. "The traditions in the Book of
Armagh," says Dr. Todd, "cannot be later than the third
half century after the date usually assigned to the death of
Saint Patrick. They assume his existence as admitted by
all parties and never questioned. Had the story of Saint
Patrick been then of recent origin, some remarks or
legends in the collection would certainly have betrayed the
fact. That the collectors of these traditions indulged in
the unscrupulous use of legend strengthens the argument.
There were men alive, at the time, whose grandfathers
might have conversed with the disciples of the Patrick
who was said to have converted the Irish in the latter half
of the fifth century. Had the existence of this Patrick
been a thing to be proved, or even doubted, some of these
men would have been produced as witnesses, and made to
tell their experience." For there was a great assumption

PREFACE. 11

made ; it was that Armagh had a right to the jurisdiction
over all other churches in Ireland — a claim not generally
admitted. To prop it uj» tin-so traditions were collected.
All was based upon the existence and acts of 1'atrirk. and
yet in this curious record there is no attempt to prove that
he had actually lived in Ireland. A whole people was ready
to admit it— so ready indeed that, upon their admission and
high regard for the man, is built up a very faulty theory of
church authority. The foundation was solid— the structure
was of wood, hay, stubble.

"It is incredible that a- whole nation could have com
bined thus to deceive themselves ; and it is even more in
credible that a purely mythological personage should have
left upon a whole nation so indelible an impression ,,f
imaginary services — an impre-sion which continue to the
present day in t lit -ir fireside lore, their local traditions, the
warm-hearted devotion and gratitude ; which has left also
its la-tint: memorial in tin- ancient names of hills and head
lands, towns and villages, churches and monasteries through
out tin- country." *

Nor is this all. There are certain writings which claim
to have come from the very pen of Saint Patrick. Our i>
a hymn, which LMV.-< us no historic information, l.ut i< of
great value in a spiritual li.irht. It will In- found in chapter
ix.. with the re:i>.m.s for giving it a place in thi> volume.
The only others which I assume to be genuine are the -
/'• • ' • /'<' •>'• "' and the /.'/- .//. Some

writer.^ include them b«»th under either one of these titles.
or refer to them as the " Cotton MS." It is only in their
* Todd. St. Patrick, preface.

12 PREFACE.

simpler, and doubtless earliest form, that they are thus ad
mitted ; what is evidently interpolated by later hands is
almost all rejected. They are quite universally admitted to
be authentic and genuine by Protestant historians, some of
whom also give a place to certain tracts, such as De Tribus
Halritaculis. The evidence in favour of the Confession is
somewhat stronger than that for the Epistle; but both are
adopted, for the following reasons :

1. Their antiquity. They are older than any of the lives
extant, and they are largely quoted in almost all the
biographies. If one goes to a Romish book-stall, he may
find, under their titles, a mixture of facts and ridiculous
fables. But the older copies come to us with a more honest
face and better credentials. About the close of the eighth
century a copy of the Confession was transcribed into the
collection entitled the Book of Armagh. The copyist com
plains that the original was becoming quite obscure, which
is no slight evidence of authenticity. At the close are the
words, ' ' Thus far the volume which Patrick wrote with his
own hand."

This copy is much shorter than those found in later
manuscripts. Did the transcriber condense or abridge the
copy before him ? So thought Dean Graves, for an et cetera
sometimes occurs. But this might only mean that the
original was dim by reason of its age, or that only the lead
ing facts of Patrick's life were intended to be preserved in
the Armagh collection. It was not, however, the fashion
of that age to abridge documents by leaving out the
wonders and miracles ; the style was rather to leave out
the sober facts of history. If we find in this copy chiefly

PREFACE. 13

facts, we may conclude that the miracles were not yet in
vented. The Epistle to Coroticus is not in the Book of
Armagh. But it bears the marks of the same age and
authorship. It also quotes the Latin vi-rsion of the Bible,
made before that of Jerome, which Patrick would hardly
have used, for the older translation would have won his
heart in his younger days.

2. Their purity. They are not entirely free from errors ;
but the errors are just such as we should expect to find in
the writings of a m:m in the decline of the fifth century.
An orthodox Augustine was a rare being at a little earlier
period. But the older copies of these writings are free
In. in ridiculous legends of miracles and saint-worship. As
such fables are contained only in later copies, we may infer
that they were foisted in by the makers and mongers < •!'
hunt; fictions. Of the Confession, Neander says: "The
work bears in its simple, rude style an impress that
corresponds entirely to Patrick's stage of culture. There
are to be found in it none of the traditions which, perhaps,
proceeded only from English monks [after the Anglo-Saxon
in\ asion in the twelfth century] ; nothing wonderful, except
what may be explained on psychological principles. All
tlii- voiirhr- i«.r tin- authenticity of the piece." Neand»-r
knew the edition of Sir .J:mn-s Ware ; that in the Book of
Armagh is .-till purer. I have con-nltnl the /,//«/• . !/•«?-
mcachce in Sir William Btntluun'l //•/>/< A/<ti<jn'i,-i<in Re-
tearches.

3. Their (It-sign. It was not to prop up certain theories
of church government. They were not written in the intemfr

* Hist. Ch. Church, ii. p. 122, note.

PREFACE.

of any party, certainly not that of the Roman power. Such
a purpose is manifest only in some of the later interpola
tions, thrust in when it was thought desirable to make the
people believe that Ireland had received her great bishop
and her Christianity directly from the banks of the Tiber.
Dr. Todd says of the Confession, especially: "If it be a
forgery, it is not easy to imagine with what purpose it
could have been forged." * If a u pious fraud," it was by
one who thought it important to assume the name and to
set forth the experiences of Patrick in accordance with
Scripture. Would such a man forge such a document ?

The avowed object was to show why Patrick felt called to
preach the gospel to the Irish people ; to declare that he
was not sent by man, but by the Lord ; to furnish evidence
that God had approved of his mission and labours ; to record
some of his experiences; to "make known God's grace
and everlasting consolation, and to spread the knowledge
of God's name in the earth." He wished in his old age "to
leave it on record after his death, for his sons whom he
had baptized in the Lord." In the proper places I have
referred to this work as a defence of himself and his mis
sion, and to the Epistle as a noble appeal for Christian
rights and liberty.

4. Their scriptural character. Not the " fathers, " but
the inspired writers are quoted. " They abound in simple
statements of Gospel truth ; but there cannot be discovered
in them a single one of those doctrines invented in later
times, and set forth as necessary to salvation, in the Creed
of PDpe Pius IV. The Scriptures are treated by him with
* Saint Patrick, p. 347.

PREFACE. 15

deep reverence, as infallible and sufficient. In support of
hi- teaching, 1'atrick appeals to no other authority than to
that of the written Word ; and in the few chapters of his
Confession alone there lire thirty-five quotations from the
Holy Scriptures."*

5. The honesty, humility and gratitude everywhere ap
parent. The Confession : is altogether such an account of
himself as a missionary of that age, circumstanced as Saint
Patrick was, might be expected to compose." Says Dr.
Todd : " Its Latinity is rude and archaic." Its tone is :
"I, Patrick, a sinner, a rustic, the least of all the faithful—"
" a poor, sinful, despicable man — " not at all "on a level
with the npi»tles — "appointed a bishop in Ireland, I
certainly confess that, by the grace of God, I am what I
am."

Yet here an objection has been urged. "Who can
believe," asks Casimir Oudin, "if Patrick was a man of
learning and n-l.-l.rity in the fifth century, that he could
have written in a semi-Latin and barbarous style?" But
it is in it claimed that he was a man of learning, educated
on the Continent, and passing thirty-five years in monas
teries. Such a view is not con-i>ti-nt with what we know
of the man. We should expect his pen to move in a rude
style. The very objection is rather one of the itroi
arguments fi.r the authenticity of these writing. "The
rude and hail uity" docs not appear in the tract >

concerning the '• Three Habitations" and the "Twelve
Abuses of the Age ;" one of which has been attributed to

•Ohurch of St. Patrick, by the Rev. John Wilson, Belfast, 1860.
This is a valuable tract.

16 PREFACE.

Augustine of Hippo, and the other to Cyprian. The
writer's own account is that he could not write elegantly,
for he had not been a student from infancy, and he had
been so long among a rude people that his speech had been
changed to another tongue. In our times well-educated
missionaries in foreign lands, grown familiar with a foreign
tongue, can appreciate his difficulty. He did not write as a
monk, but as a missionary.

6. The neglect into which the older form of these writings
fell is some evidence of their truth. They did not serve
the purposes of a Church which has coolly laid claim to
all the saintly characters from the time of Abel to the
beginning of the fifteenth century. She has swelled the
catalogue of saints, but she has never been content with the
original records of good men. She has added to them
whatever suited her purpose, and cast into the shade the
original documents. Thus has she done with the Holy
Scriptures. How much has she added to the first simple
accounts of Mary and Peter, and even our Lord ! Her very
neglect of the original records is an argument for their
authenticity. It sets them apart from the legends which
were manufactured in her interest. It distinguishes the
true coin from the cheap counterfeit, the latter having
become very profitable to Rome. Her authors have not
been content to publish these unvarnished writings of an
honest Christian missionary. There was not enough of the
wonderful, the monkish, the Romish element in them.
They were cast into a dark corner, according to her manner
of putting to silence the witnesses of truth. The real
Patrick has been slumbering his thousand years. It is

PREFACE. 17

tiim- 'or him to rouse, and in rising up he will throw off
thr v ist heaps of >uper>t it ions piled upon him to keep
him '.uiet.

H>-iv. then, is a footimr upon these ancient documents.
Assmiiimr their genuineness, we maybe guided to some
knowledge of the life, the labours and doctrines of Patrick.
What airives with them we shall accept from all sources
within reach ; what is inconsistent is rejected.

Among the oldest of the " Lives" is the brief Hymn of
or St. Fiei -h, who seems to have been a disciple of
I'.-itriek. If lie composed such a poem, he may have
-i in_ it as ;i converted bard ; but a later hand is apparent in
a li w miracles added to it I have before me a tri-fonn
r..py. eoutaiiiin.tr the nriirinal IrMi. tin- Latin version of
1 in. and an Kn«:li>h translation by the anonymous author
««f a Liti- ,,f St. Patrick. • The eollertion of " Lives" in
f '„!;/., H'X 7V/. /.v T/HtiniKifitr!/'! is valuable, if defects in
quality ran be made good by .superabundance in quantity,
the 7V//;'//-///, J/,f, }H in- the only one worthy of much
1. The reading «if J.,,:li,,,'x Llf, of St. Patrick
almost di-L'UM.-d me with the subject, but it was refreshing
to find one of the latest R<nni>h writers saying, "How
derogatory iron i coinnioii sense have tlu; hiu.-rn pliers of our
saint acted, and particularly Joceline!" Our modern
author, however, i- not dear of the same fault.

Almost all my previous researches might have been

spared had I received at an earlier day the work entitled

St. 1'itrnh. .\/,'><(le of Ireland; a Memoir of his Life

Mi^io,,. iritft .in ii'fru'tu.t'.n/./i.wrtatv

•Baltimore: John Murphy, 1861.

18 PREFACE.

usages of the Church in Ireland . . . by James ffenthorn
Todd, D.D. To this learned work by an Episcopal clergy
man, and ' ' an antiquarian declared to be thoroughly versed
in Irish history, ' ' my indebtedness is gratefully acknowledged.
His brother, the Rev. Wm. G. Todd, in his Church of St.
Patrick, has proved that the ancient Church of Ireland was
independent of Rome.

Other works have been consulted, such as the Historia
Britonum of Nennius ; Ecclesiastic* Historic Gentes An-
glorum, of Bede; Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates,
of Ussher; Annales Ecclesiastic! of Baronius; Me"moires
Ecclesiastique, par M. de Tillemont; Le Grand Diction-
naire, par M. Louis Moreri ; Biographic Universelle ; An
nales Hiberniae, ab Thoma Carve ; Collectanea de Rebus
Hibernicis, by Charles Valiancy; Les Moines d' Occident,
par le Comte de Montalembert; Alban Butler's Lives of the
Saints; Ledwich's Antiquities of Ireland; Annals of Ire
land, by the Four Masters; Neander's Memorials of Chris
tian Life ; Ecclesiastical Histories of Ireland, by Brenan,
Carew, Lanigan and Wordsworth; Sir James Ware's His
tory and Antiquities of Ireland; McLauchlan's Early Scot
tish Church ; Soames' Latin Church during Anglo-Saxon
Times ; Lappenberg's History of England under the Anglo-
Saxon Kings ; the several Histories of Ireland by Keating,
Macgeoghan, Moore, Haverty, O'Halloran and O'Connor;
and the General Histories of the Christian Church by
Fleury, Neander, Mosheim, Kurtz, Cave and Collier.

I have not discussed at tedious length the question of
Saint Patrick's birth-place, but have frequently pointed out
evidences that it was on the Clyde. The opinion that it

PREFACE. 19

was Boulognc-sur-Mer, in Gaul, seems to be quite modern.

It- .-iiii-f Mipporter i> I>r. Laniiran. win. iiiLM-iiiuii-ly brings
forward no little learnini: on tin- >ubject, but all his trini-
uiini: of ftntiqOAted names can hardly >ati>fv us that his
Bononia TarvamiH' was Patrick's Bonavem Taberni;p.
where tin • irivat mi»ionary tell- us his father dwelt. We
can find halt' a do/en places in Gaul once called Bononia, *
ami a score of Taberniae ; and ^ possibly by Dr. Lanigan's
in.nlc nl' iva.Mining we might show that Saint Patrick was
born at the Thiv<- Taverns ( Trex Talnrn(Ui), where Paul met
his Christian brethren. This would bring the "Apostle of
Ireland" near «-n..u-h to Rome, in his childhood, to please
the m,,M ardent papal admirers. The opinion that he was
born on the banks of the Clyde, or somewhere in North
Britain, is Hipp..rted by Fiacc and his scholiast, the author
of St. I)eclan'> Life. I'lohns Sigibert (quoted by Ussher),
' Ware. .Inceline. Fleiiry, Tilleinont, Hailet, Albaii

Butler. .M ie-e0ghan, Baronius (?), Moreri, Spottiswoode,
Camden. Cnllier, Lappenberg, Thorpe, Henry, Gibbon,
Neander, Milner, Wordsworth, J. C. Robertson, Hether-
ington, D'Aubignd, McLauchlan, Giesseler, Kurtz, Mo-
>lieiin, Todd, Reeves and other writers, both Protestant and
Roman Catholic.

Truth and fact have been most earnestly sought, and the
attempt is to present them intelligibly and impartially. I
have given to many statement- the h« aw >hadimr of a
doubt, and I only ask for them the benefit of a probability.
A plain mark has been put upon every >illy legend, which
it seemed proper to notice in order to make clear the poiota
* Anthon's Clasa. Diet

20 PREFACE.

of the case, or to bring upon some popular superstition its
deserved ridicule.

If the name of Saint Patrick were less known ; if it had
fallen into obscurity ; if we had to rescue it from oblivion,
as that of Hyppolitus or that of Paleario has been rescued,
and if he were not so commonly portrayed in colours that
do not at all suit his complexion, — ours would be an easier
task. It would be less difficult to meet the popular views.
In telling the truth about him we must come in conflict
with the common opinions. Men will take down their
histories and cyclopedias and read the usual story, shake
their heads, call in question what we relate, and examine
the subject no further ; I can only ask them to follow up
my references.

If any one attached to the Roman Catholic Church shall
read this volume, let him not suppose that we dishonour
the great man whom he reveres as the patron saint of all
Irishmen. Far from it ; we would have him honored in his
true character. If such a reader will adopt the ancient
religion of Saint Patrick, he will find himself almost a
modern Protestant. At all events, he will go to the Word
of God as the only authority in matters of faith, and the
only source of light to guide him in the way of life. It is
not so much our aim to set forth the man Patrick as it
is to illustrate the principles by which he was controlled in
the labours that have made his name renowned. The record
of his toils and triumphs ought to be instructive, if a late
writer says truly, "From all that can be learned of him,
there never was a nobler Christian missionary than Patrick. "

CHICAGO, ILL. W. M. B.

SAINT PA PRICK.

CHAPTER I.

HOME AND PARENTAGE.

7N cottages, near Intl.' towns, great men have
been born. God makes his earnest workers
&G? °f dust, th.it he may have all the glory.

When looking f«>r the l,irt h-pla«v of Saint
Patrick we turn to Scotland. The voyager on the
deck of the vessel that -teams up the Clyde will
have his eye upon a lonely, ru^-cd rock that rfea
almo-t three hundred feet above the water, and i-
now crowned with a cattle. It was once called
Alcluyd,* the Rock of the Clyde. It gave it-
name to a fort on its top and a town at its foot.
There, on their own frontier, the ancient Uritons
resisted the Northern Scot- and 1'icte. Border
strife- made it a place of death. The old <ongs
tell of the river, running red with blood. It
* Alrluith, Al.-luiu.l. \U-luada, Aldy.l.-. In Oasian'e poems
it is Balclutha. See my preface.

21

22 SAINT PATRICK.

seems to have been a stronghold of the Eomans,
who built one of their walls from Alcluyd
across the country to the Frith of Forth. To
them the Britons yielded and looked for defence
during several generations. It is supposed that
these Eomanized Britons united with the tribes of
Southern Scotland and formed the Cumbrian
league, or the kingdom of Strathclyde. Their
capital was Alcluyd, which they named Dunbriton,
"the hill of the Britons," whence the present
name of Dumbarton. Four miles from it, toward
Glasgow, on the line of the old Roman wall, is
the modern town of Kilpatrick, which claims to
be the birth-place of Saint Patrick. The Christian
year 397 is the most probable date of his birth.

The account given in his name is this: "I,
Patrick, a sinner, the rudest and the least of all
the faithful, and the most despicable among most
people, had for my father Calpurnius, a deacon, son
of the late Potitus, a presbyter, who was of the
town of Bonavem Tabernise; for he had a cottage
(or farm) in the neighbourhood where I was cap
tured."*

* Confessio Patricii. We have stated in the preface the
reasons for presuming the Confession, in its oldest form, to be
geuuine.

SAINT PATRICK. 23

He does not tell us where he was born; he

simply relates that his father dwelt at Bonavera,

where he also was living when taken captive. But

why mention the place as his home, unless he was

a native of it? The plain inference is that he was

lx>rn there. It is difficult to identify Bonavem

Tabernise with any ancient town. To no one

probably was this Latin name given; it is simply

the Latin translation of some name which was

foreign to the language of the Romans. Perhaps

the words mean a town at the river's mouth,* near

the tents (tabernise) or shops of the Roman army.

The Hymn of Fiacc begins thus: " Patrick was

born at Nempthur." The old commentator upon

it says of Nempthur, "It is a city in North

Britain, vix. Aleluada." According to the ancient

and IX-.M trad it inn-, we may assume tli;it Saint

I'airi.-k WM b«»rn in a COttagC not tar from Aleluyd,

and under its pmtertion.

lint, ii-elinji that he wa- unworthy "f any birth-
plaer, he did n-'t elearly define it. In his old age
he t hun-Jit rather nf hi- li<>nir in the heaven.-. He
might have said, as did Severinus, one of the

* 7?on, mouth ; awn, river.— Celtic Di>/. Nnni'thur may
oome from JV«m, a riv.-r. .uid 2V, a tower— the ca^tl.- ..n the

24 SAINT PATRICK.

missionaries along the banks of the Danube, in the
fifth century : " What pleasure can it be to a ser
vant of God to specify his home, or his descent,
since by silence he can so much better avoid all
boasting? I would that the left hand knew noth
ing of the good works which Christ grants the
right hand to accomplish, in order that I may be a
citizen of the heavenly country. Why need you
know my earthly country, if you know that I am
truly longing after the heavenly ? But know this,
that God has commissioned me to live among this
heavily oppressed people."

The admiring monks sought to glorify Saint
Patrick by inventing for him a royal lineage.
They ran it back to Britus, or Britanus, the sup
posed ancestor of the Britons. But he had no
such vain imaginations. It was enough for him to
tell us of his grandfather. We are glad to know
that he was the grandson of Potitus,* the presbyter.
The blood was good. If he had thought that his
grandfather had disgraced himself by marriage, f he

* " Son of Odisse" is added on the margin of the Book of
Armagh, in the hand of the original scribe. In Fiacc's
Hymn he is called " the Deacon Odisse."

f In the year 314, the council of Neocaesarea decreed that
the presbyter who married should forfeit his standing.

SAINT PATRICK. 25

would hardly have mentioned him iis a minister
of God's word. He would have been silent about
his clerical anccster. It seems that he did not
believe in the celibacy of the clergy, even in his
old age. Here is some proof of the truth and the
antiquity of " the Confession." If it had been in
vented and written in more papal times, Saint
Patrick would not have been made the grandson
of a presbyter; not if that presbyter held the rank
of a Roman priest.* The book must be older than
the notion that the early Churches of Scotland
and Ireland were controlled by the bishop of
Rome.

Of Potitus we learn nothing more, except that
his office was held in high esteem in his times.
Martin of Tours declared, at a public entertain
ment, that the emperor was inferior in dignity to a
presbyter. f This may have been a boast, yet
without vaunting the early Christians of Scotland

_'«T ground w:is -rn.lually taken, until, aUut the
400, the I.MI..J. ,,f I',,,,,,. f,,rli:i«le the marri.t-e ..f the el
Hut yet, in nm |, ;s bull was not cloudy heeded.—

Ntmder'a C/<. 7//X ii. 1 17.

*Some writ.r, e.-ill h.titu, a pfM* Thus [QOM,
Carew and other K.-m.-iniMx. Th.- original \v<>nl i* r.-n
prabytcr by such prelatists a« Todd, Soaraes and Uwher.

i M.-h.-ini. < Vnt. V. chap. ii.

26 SAINT PA TRICK.

regarded the presbyter as a bishop. The same was
true in England and Ireland. Even in the tenth
century, Elfric, a Saxon bishop, wrote thus of the
orders of church officers, putting the presbyter first:
" There is no difference between him and the bishop,
except that the bishop is appointed to confer ordi
nation, which, if every presbyter should do, would
be committed to too many. Both, indeed, are one
and the same order." Pryne says of the early
Britons : " They maintain the parity of the
bishops and presbyters." In Eastern lands men
began to put a difference between these officers.
"Yet a Chrysostom and a Jerome still asserted
the primitive equal dignity of the presbyters and
the bishops, very justly believing that they found
authority for this in the New Testament."*

Potitus may have been a Culdee presbyter. His
Latin name does not prove that he was a Roman,
sent out with the army from Rome as a mission
ary to the Britons. Native names were often
Latinized by the historians. f It is more likely
that he was a Briton by birth. Perhaps he studied

* Neander's Ch. Hist. vol. ii. p. 155, American ed.

f Succath was changed to Patricius. Two native ministers
in the sixth century, near Loch Ness, are called Fmchadus
and Virolecus.

SA INT PA TE ICK. 27

the Scriptures and prayed in the Culdee cell at
Aleluyd, and at its door preached to the people.

To us there is something quite romantic about
the cw/7, kit, or cell of the early Christians in
Scotland and Ireland. There is scarcely a doubt
that it gave name to the Cuildich, or Culdees. To
them tin -iv was a sacredness about it as they re
treated to it in some lonely wood, narrow valley,
or rugged ravine. It was not the abode of a
monk ; it was the resort of a missionary. It was
his "Htudy," where he prepared for preaching.
Its origin we cannot discover ; perhaps it was, at
first, a refuge from enemies or a resort for prayer.
It became the sacred place of the presence of God;
almost the Holy of Holies, with its veil rent for
the entrance of the Culdee worshipper. Its plan
was carried with every missionary, and he chose
the spot t'.r his "cell" as the Hebrew did for the
tabernacle. There was his sanctuary; there he
wrestled with God in prayer; there tin- people
might us-emble with reverence to hear him preach.
It was holy ground ; the burning bush was there
in the desert. The cell develop- into tln«e forms —
the oratory, the kirk and the college.* At some

* Princeton Krvii-w, IM'.T. Artid.- on "Tin- <'ul«Irr Monas
teries."

28 SAINT PATRICK.

period a cell, or kil, was located near the spot
where Saint Patrick was born. It may have been
close by the same cottage. There Potitus may
have studied and prayed. There the people may
have assembled for worship. There, it seems, a
Culdee kirk, or church, grew up, which the people
o^ later days called Kilpatrick, in honour of the
great missionary, who was born at the place. Po
titus seems to have lived to a good old age, and
been worthy of the respect of his grandson. It is
some proof of his excellent family government that
he reared a deacon.

The deacon was Calpurnius. What sort of a
deacon was he ? Some place him in " the third or
lowest order of the ordained clergy." Such
"deacon's orders" would savour of Rome, and
give to Calpurnius ,the rank of a clergyman.
If he was such a deacon, he was quite free from
the Roman notions of celibacy, for he took a wife
and reared a family. If a clergyman at all, he
must have been a Culdee licentiate. It was held
to be no sin for a Culdee minister to marry. But
if he was a Culdee deacon, he was hardly a minis
ter, or a candidate for the ministry. The church
of the Culdees seems to have been regulated after
the Bible, and not after the Roman model. It ap-

SAINT PATRICK. 29

pears to have had deacons, elders and presbyters,
and none of higher rank. Doubtless the early
Culdees had no very perfect system of church
government, but in what they did have, they
sought to follow "the order of the primitive
( liiirch." Dwelling among quarrelsome tril» •-,
and in danger of persecutions, they gave them
selves to preaching Christ and peace, rather than
to questions and modes of government.* Cal-
purnius may have been a deacon of the church at
Alcluyd.

Another office is said to have been held by Cal-
purnius. If a certain ancient letter came from the
hand of Saint Patrick, he says, " I was of a family
respectable accord ini: t" the flesh, my father having
been a decurio. I gave up my nobility for the
good of others, that I might be a missionary ."f
The decurio was a magistrate and counsellor in the
Roman colonies. The office conferred a hi^h rank
on those who held it. These officers " were mem
bers of the court, or counsellors of the city, and
could not be ordained [to tin Chri.-tian mini-try].
By virtue of their estates tiny \\eie tied to the
offices of their country. They HUM have -i eeriain

* Hi-theriiiKtoi,'- Hi ' < luirrli of Srothiml. OKI]'
f Tin- Kpimli- (•(•nccniiii^ Corotic-iiB. See raj preface.

30 SAINT PATRICK.

amount of property."* Such was the law of Con-
stantine for the more wealthy decuriones. " The
fact that Calpurnius is said to have held that office
may perhaps tend to show us that he belonged to
one of the Roman provinces of Great Britain,
rather than to Bretagne Armorique. It is a mis
take to suppose that a decurio was necessarily a
military officer."f Such a man must have had no
little authority over the Britons of Strathclyde.
The Romans allowed "governors of the native
races," especially at Alcluyd. When the Romans
were called home to resist the Goths, they must
have left very much of their power in the hands
of the magistrate. But Calpurnius ruled in the
State like a good deacon of the Church.

Tradition informs us that the mother of Saint
Patrick was Conchessa. Various writers call her
the sister of Martin, archbishop of Tours and the
founder of monasteries in Western Europe. A
candid Romanist thinks that this opinion is refuted
by the silence of the ancient annalists. " For it
cannot be supposed that a connection so honour
able, and which, if it existed, must have been
generally known, could have been passed over in

* Bingham's Ecclesiastical Antiquities, book iv. 4.
f Todd's Saint Patrick. Dublin, 1864, p. 354.

SAINT PATRICK. 31

silence by persons who must have been eager to
mention whatever could exalt the character of
Saint Patrick with po.-terity."* In the tract on
"the mothers of tin- .-aims in Ireland/'f she is
represented as a Briton. \V«- may believe that -he
was "a woman superior to the majority of her
sex," an«l that she endeavoured to instil into the
heart of her son the doctrines of Christianity.J

Such a iuinily, in which there was a presbyter
and a deacon, dwelling on the banks of the Clyde,
could not well be the solitary Christians of that
country. There must have been many others.
Win-nee their religion, and how long had it existed
in Scotland /

Mittionariea may have followed in the footsteps
of the Uoman army, the sword preparing the way
for the CM-" — . For four hundred yi r ( 'hrist

the Unman- held .-way over many parts of Eng
land and Southern Scotland, and the door was open
for teaeher- of ihe faith, howe\< r -e\erely x»me of
th<- emperor- per-.-eiited them. Yet little seems
to have been done. The native people hated the

* An Ecclesiastical f In-hind, by the Right Rev.

P. J. Carew, p. 52.

f Attributed to yEnguw the Culdee, of the ninth century.
t D'Aubigntfs Hist of Ref. Vol. v. chaj). i.

32

SAINT PATRICK.

invaders; they were not likely to give ear to
preachers who came from the Koman Empire.
Missionaries from Rome would have taught certain
Koman errors, such as the celibacy of the clergy,
prelacy and submission to the bishop of Rome.
We must not forget that Rome, in the first Christian
centuries, was far purer than she became after the
seventh ; the great errors had not grown up : still,
she had perverted many doctrines and practices
before the Roman army left Britain. If we found
these peculiar errors among the Christian Britons
and Scots at an early day, we should conclude that
they had been taught by Roman missionaries. We
do not find them ; we find a much purer form of
Christianity ; and our conclusion is, that they first
received the gospel from a different quarter.

Ships sailed to Britain from Eastern lands where
the Greek language prevailed. They came from
the harbours of cities where the apostles had
preached. On their decks may have been Chris
tian merchants and missionaries from Greece and
Asia Minor. The one class could supply funds,
the other could give the gospel to the Scots and
Britons. We may suppose that such teachers of
the faith gathered a few people about them and told
them of Jesus who was crucified for them. All

- i / vy r A TRICK. 33

; -ome beheved. The number of hearers
increased. Little hand- celebrated the dying love
•»f Chri>t. The Druids shook their heads in
aii'j-er; the jir.iplc were iorsakini: them; their craft
was in danger; they cried out against the new
doctrine-. They claimed to be the only religious
teacher- and the law-maker-. They muttered
their dark su-picions to the chieftains and kings.
iVr-eciiiinn an-e. The little Hocks were scattered.
They -oiio-lit refuge in narrower valleys. The
teacher- hid in do-er retreats. They made them
cells f«.r prayer and study, and became Culdees.
In some >m-h manner, we may suppose, Christianity
WM tir-t planted in Scotland and the northern part
of Britain, and the Culdees arose.* Before the
end of the second century there appear to have
been many bands of ( 'hri-tiaus north of the Clvde
and the JJoman Wall. In the year iM I, ( )ri-cM
wn.tr in ( in-ck, « The power of (iod, cur Saviour,
i- even with them who ii» Uritain are shut out from

* An. .tln-r ..pinion iMhat S,,iith.-rn Hritain first received the
inissinn.-irif!* from A.-ia Minor .-uui ( Ir. .c,-, or from the churches
of Lv,,,,- ;m.l Mareeilles, which were of the Grecian tyj,, •; ati.l
that un.lcr siifh |i«TM-cutionB M that of I>iorlrtian many of
these early I'.rili-h Ch.iMiai^ fl, ,1 to S.^tland and In-land,
wln-iv th.-y to,,: ;| ,.,.[], .,,,,1 became known as the

Culdees.— />

34 SAINT PA TRICK.

our world." About the same time Tertullian said
" that parts of the British Isles, not reached by
the Romans, were made subjects to Christ." This
was scarcely all rhetoric. We know that early in
the fifth century Rome sent " bishops" to the " Scots
believing in Christ." She did it as if it were a
new thing ; without her aid the Scots had believed.
They continued to believe and increase. They re
jected her u bishops" until forced to accept them in
the twelfth century. In their churches was a purer
faith. " These churches were formed after the
Eastern type ; the Britons [and Scots] would have
refused to receive the type of that Rome whose
yoke they detested." *

We find in Ninian a specimen of an early Briton
Christian. Perhaps he was known to Potitus ;
they were of t* e same kingdom of Strathclyde.
He was born about the year 360. His parents
were Christians and early devoted him to the
Christian ministry. He loved his associates,
abstained from jests, gave his hours to study and
closely searched the Holy Scriptures. He was
sparing of words, courteous in manners, moderate
at the table and reserved in public. The body was
ruled by the spirit that dwelt in it. He was marked
*D>Aubign&

SAINT PATRICK. 35

as a young man of warm zeal, deep humility and
dauntless conra-e. Having passed through the
schools of his own country, and still eager for
knowledge, In- \\ent to Rome.

Ailred tells us that when Ninian came to Rome,
the blessed youth wept over the relics of the
apostles and gave himself to their care. If he
did, he had no suspicion that a gross deception was
practiced upon him. The " pope" received him as
a son. He was thereupon handed over to certain
teachers, who well knew how to manage a simple-
hearted student, lie soon discovered that his own
people did not understand the Scriptures as mm
interpreted them at Rome. He was led to think
that the Briton Christians were greatly in error,
but on what points we are not informed. Doubt-
less they had simpler forms of worship; they had
less regard lor relies, outward rites, the sign of the
cross, clerical rule.- and tonsure, festival day-,
lituririe- and hi^hi-r orders of clergy; they did not

iv-anl the bi.-hop «,f Rome as the Mleee-x.r nf

St. Peter, nor a> the bond of unity in the( 'ImVtian
('hun-h. They held < 'liri-t as their master and tin-
only Kini: in /ion. The eyes of Ninian M
blinded. He thought that hi- eountryineii had not
fully come up to the faith ; he did not see that

36 SAINT PATRICK.

Rome had begun to depart from it. He resolved
to impart his new ideas to his brethren. The story
is that the Roman bishop ordained him as "the
first apostle" to his people, and sent him forth with
his benediction.

When Ninian returned to his own country, he
was received with great demonstrations of joy.
The people gathered about him. They held him
as one of the prophets. They praised Christ for
what they saw and heard. They were not heathen,
and yet athe first apostle to his own people" had
come! Rome ignored the former teachers and
presbyters: she now sent a " bishop." But they
looked upon him as a follower of Christ and of
his fathers. It is related that on his homeward
way he had visited Martin of Tours, studied
architecture, and brought with him a company of
builders. A spot was chosen in the southern part
of Galloway, near a deserted Roman camp, and
the rally ing-point of a Caledonian tribe. It was
not far from the seat of a Culdee establishment.
There a church was built of bright white stone ;
hence its name, Candida Casa, or Whitherne.*

* Now Whithorn. The town of this name is on the main
shore. Near it is an island, which " has some remains of a very
ancient small church, believed to have been one of the earliest

SAINT PATRICK. 37

" There," says his biographer, " the candle being
placed in its candlestick, it began to give forth its
light, with heavenly signs to those who were in the
house of God, and its graces radiating, those who
'were dark in their mind were enlightened by the
bright and burning word of God, and the frigid
were warmed." We reject the miracles ascribed to
him by Ailred, who says they are "credible only
by such as believe that nothing is impossible to
the faithful." He seems to have laid aside his
Roman notions, and assumed no high prelatic
powers. He was doubtless an earnest missionary,
labouring more to make converts to Christ than to
Rome. In the wilds of Galloway he taught sound
doctrine and scriptural discipline, "lie opened
hi- month with the word of (Jod, through the grace
of the Holy Spirit," says Ailred. " The faith is
received, error is put away, the [heathen] temples
are destroyed, churches are erected: men ru-h to
the fountain oi' -:i\ ing cleansing — the rich and tin-
poor alike, young men and maidens ..Id men and
children, mothers with their infant-; ivn-MineiiiL:
Satan and all hi- work- and p.. nip-, they are
joined to the family of believers by fhith, and

stone striictun-s of its class in Scotland."— Nebmft Handbook
toS&.t

38 SAINT PA THICK.

word, and sacraments." Such was his work
among the Southern Picts. Perhaps he extended
his labours north of the Roman Wall. Who
knows but that he visited Alcluyd, lodged with
Calpurnius, filled the lad Patrick with wonder, and
talked late into the night with the venerable Po-
titus ? Who knows but that this aged presbyter
convinced him of Rome's advance in error, and
confirmed him in the ancient faith of the Culdees?
He seems to have done little for Rome and
much for Christ. At a ripe age he died in peace.
More than a score of Scottish churches were named
in honour of this zealous missionary. Rome
canonized him ; it had been better if she had re
turned to his doctrines. That he was free from
error we do not assert. We have endeavoured to
sketch the man,* that we might have before us the
portrait of a Christian Briton, who lived in the
time of Saint Patrick's youth. No great mission
ary was more likely to influence the mind of the
grandson of Potitus.

* Consult Bede's Eccl. Hist., McLauchlan's Early Scottish
Church, The Spottiswoode Miscellany^ Neander's Church
History.

CHAPTER II.

THE YOUNG CAPTIVE.

K may imagine the deacon Calpurnins walk
ing solemnly by the side of the pale Con-
che— a, hearing an intiint son in his arm-,
and turning to a fountain* near to a Culdee
then joining fervently in the simple service!
of wor.-hip, and praying silently that the Lord will
hi- neighbours who gace upon the -cene; then

to what i- -aid of God's holy covenant

with hi- j pie and their little ones and holding

forth hi- child to receive the token of it< surrender

to the Fath'T, the >«.al of its redemption by the

Boo and the -yiubol of it- renewal by the Holy
(Iho-f. \Ve almoal MC the reverent piv-byter t;ike
his jrrand-oii and with the word- of < 'hri-t applv
to him the water. ,,f bapli-m, Lrivc him the ki--
"f p- >laOfi him in the arm- of the tearful

F«iuiit:iiim aid \v«-]U S.MMII l.» li:iv«- | .it an r:irly

1 for ii ip;i-iu ; i ;, . o >••"( land

and Ind:ind.

t An .•iiiririit ("Hioin. 7 '/'/ '/'•/•.•;-'/ 1/'« Ancient Hrli".
198.

40 SAINT PATRICK.

Conchessa, and lift his hands for the prayer and
benediction. We are told that to this child was
given the name of Succath in his baptism. At a
later day he was called Patrick.*

In this we have supposed nothing more than
may have been true. But the story-tellers of the
Middle Ages imagined things that are hugely false,
and made sad work of the life of Saint Patrick.
Among their lying legends the facts are almost
lost. Not content with marvels, they invented
miracles. What wonders the child performed, even
before he breathed ! He is but an infant when he
makes the sign of the cross on the ground, and on
the spot a fountain flows whose waters cure the
blind. Is the water flooding his mother's floor ?
He drops fire from his fingers and every drop is
dried away. Does his aunt want a bundle of
fagots ? The boy Patrick brings ice in his arms
and makes a rousing fire with it. Does his sister
Lupita fall and bruise her forehead ? He heals
the wounds in an instant. While herding the flock

* Keating' s Hist, of Ireland. Place's Hymn runs : "Succat
his name at the beginning." Succat in old British means
" the god of war," or " strong in war." An odd name, says
Lanigan, for the child of a Christian deacon. Not more odd
than for Palladius to bear a name derived from the heathen
goddess Pallas.— 2W* St. Patrick, 363.

SAINT PATRICK. 41

he grow- outlaw ; a wolf eotiMl and steals one of
the tine.-t Iambs. The lad is reproved, but he prays
all night, and lo ! in the morning the rogui.-h thief
brings back the lamb, lays it unhurt at his feet,
and then tiers to the woods! Thus we might go
on heaping up the non.-en.-e i'ound in the first
thirteen chapter- of a book written by Joceline. a
monk of the twelfth century. No wonder that one
Romi.-h author rejects such legend- a- -tories
u foiled in l.y the credulous writers of tho.-c dark
. whn were tor heaping miracle- upon the backs
of their -aim- which the present times are not ex-
peet. d i» -ive credit to ;" and another declares that
they are "oMMIgfc t<» rouse the imliguatinu of every
\>\n\i< reader." It i- high time for the Romani-ts
to pur-e the old "Lives of the Saint-" as
thoroughly as theynung Tatrirk i- .-aid to have
cleane.l the tortress and stables of the cruel lord of
l>unbriton; for t he -lory is, t hat tin- tyrant ordered
Patrick'.- aunt to do the ,-lavi-h job, but the lad
came forward like a man, and by miracle made -uch
a riddance* of all tra-hthat none wa- ever found
afterward in the whole c-tabli-hmrnt.

\Ve mii-t believe that thcyoim,r I';it!-i,-k had all
the human nature of a boy. He was not a saint.
Hi- deed- WON not holy. It i- far more likely

42 SAIXT PATRICK.

that he complained of his oatmeal porridge at
breakfast, and ran away from his mother to the
trout-streams to catch something better for dinner;
that when sent into town on an errand he took the
" Rock on the Clyde" in his way, and loitered for
an hour on the top looking for savage Highland
ers; that he threw snowballs at some wandering
Druid, or talked long with the Roman soldiers
when he ought to have been tending his father's
sheep.

He was taught the holy commandments,* but
he did not keep them. He was " warned for his
salvation/' but he heeded not the preachers. " I
knew not the true God," he said in his old age, as
he looked back upon the days of his youth. He
must have meant that he knew not God as his
heavenly Father, nor Christ as his Saviour ; he did
not love him nor obey the truth. No doubt his
parents taught him the way to be saved, for he
seems to have remembered the lessons of home in
his captivity. His grandfather must have had a
Bible, and taught Patrick to read it, as Ninian was
taught. But he had no heart for the truth. " He
was fond of pleasure, and delighted to be the
leadei of his youthful companions. In the midst
*Confessio Patrieii, near the beginning.

SAINT PATRICK. 43

of his frivolities he committed a serious fault." *
What it was we know not ; it proves that he was
not holy from his infancy — not "always a Chris
tian," as Alban Butler declares him to have been, f
He was then fifteen years of age.

It was not always safe for him to lead a troop of
young friends down the Clyde to hold their sports
on its banks, or to stroll up the glen and make
merrv with -<>me jovial shepherd and his flock.
For pirates often drew their boats into some cove,
wandered over the hills, seized upon the playful
children, carried them away to strange lands and
sold them into slavery. With bolder steps they some
times man-hed into villages, slew the strong men,
abused the a<jed, plundered the houses or set them
on fire, laid waste the gardens, stole the cattle and
took off the children. As Sir Walter Scott says of
the I>anMi pirates: " They were heathens, and did
not believe in the Iiil>le, but thought of nothing
but battle and -laiiirhttT and making plunder."
Mn-t of the Unman -.Idicrs had been called Imme;
so few were left that they were not able to protect
the prnplr ahm^ the Clyde.

One day a band of these robbers came like

*D'Aui.;

f l.i\v<Mf ih«- S.-iint-, M;irch 17.

44 SAINT PATRICK.

vultures upon the town, and, after every sort of
outrage, they carried off Patrick and about two
hundred of the villagers. The captives were placed
in the boats,* and the prows were turned down
the Clyde and toward Ireland. What sad thoughts
in the mind of Patrick as he gazed back at the
high rock so near his home ! What anger toward
the pirates ! But he afterward saw a reason for it
all ; the hand of God was laid severely upon him
to correct his evil ways. " I was taken captive,
when I was nearly sixteen years old. I knew not
the true God, and I was carried in captivity to
Ireland, with many thousandsf of men, according
to our deserts, because we had gone back from
God, and had not kept his commandments, and
were not obedient to our priests, who used to warn
us for our salvation. And the Lord brought upon
us the wrath of his displeasure, and scattered us

*Curachs, no doubt made of wicker and covered with ox
hides. They were used by the people of the British Isles
long after the Norwegians showed them how to build small
ships.

f Not " many thousands" in his company, but " many thous
ands" in a like condition of bondage, taken a\v:iy at various
times and to various countries. We read of British captives at
Kome in the sixth century, of whom Gregory said, "Non
Angli, sed angeli."

SAINT PATRICK. 45

many nations, even unto the ends of the
earth."*

Who were those pirates? Were they Irishman,
led by Niall of the Nine Hostages? This daring
corsair roved over the seas, and excelled in the
plave-trade before, we suppose, Saint Patrick was
1. >rn. Those who fix his birth before the year 387
attribute the capture to Niall,f the ancestor of the
O'Neills, and "martial hero of the Irish." Of
him an ancient poet sin^s, that he,

By force of arms, and martial skill,
Subdued tin- r.-l.ds who opposed his right;
And, as a pledge of their allegiance,

lilirtl livr lio-t.i^i-s of noblr blood;
And, to >i-ciin- tin- homa^' of thr Scots,
II iv.-i't r.,n!iiu-d four hostages of note;

•II'H prince the ancient records cail
Tlu- Ili-ro of the Nine Hostag«i.

On one of his excursions for plunder he was

•-hut with an am>\\ and died on the spot. He was

crrtainly j^n-at nimi^li t.» carry away Sain 1 Patrick,

wanting at tin- time. lim lie appears not to have
lived long enon-h I'-T >M«-h a dcod. It i.-> more

»Conf. I 'at

\ Keating, L:inigan, D'Aubigiu', Wilson.

46 SAINT PATRICK.

likely that the captors were led by some other
chieftain. When the Romans were ".eaving the
Clyde, the poor Britons were at the mercy of their
foes. The old wall was no defence. On neither
side of the line did the gospel of peace reign.
The Picts shouted, the Britons groaned, and the
Irish ran in and took the spoils and the prey.

There is another version of the story which
merits a respectful notice. It is, that the capture
was made in Brittany, in the North of France.
Some writers, who think that Saint Patrick was
not born near Boulogne, suppose that his parents
left the Clyde and settled on the coast of Gaul.*
The commentator on Fiacc's Hymn gives the legend
thus : " This was the cause of the servitude of
Patrick. His father, mother, brother and five
sisters all went from the Britons of Alcluaid, across
the Iccian sea southward, on a journey to the
Britons of Letha. . . . Then came seven sons
of Sectmaide, king of Britain, in ships. . . .
and they made great plunder on the Britons of
Armoric Letha, where Patrick with his family
was, and they wounded Calpurnius there, and
carried off Patrick and Lupait [his sister] with
them to Ireland, and sold them."
* So D'AubignS.

SA /A 7 PATRICK. 47

Tin.- Mo,-y is usually supported by the fact that
a colony of Northern Briton- had lately settled in
Gaul, giving to that re^inn the name of Brittany,
if indeed the Brittani had not dwelt there centuries
before. It was at first a Roman military ml. my,
consisting of British warriors. "Thou'di that

*•* O

country had from the earliest times, by descent,
language and Druid ism, been related to Britain,
yet the now colonists, who were followed by many
others, both male and female, served unqnestinn-
ably to hind more elo.-ely and to preserve ihe c,.n-
ne<-ti(.n between Bretagne and the Britons of Wales
and Cornwall. . . . But Britain was thereby de
prived of her luave-t warriors, and thence the more
easily l.eeame an early prey to foreign invader-.
. I'iet- and Saxons continued to trouble it."*
Thi- mlnny nii-ht have resisted the pirate- more
Mi-oniily than the dwellers on the Clyde. If
Patrick had been there, he might have been sal'. •;
it' hi.- parent- w«iv tiering thither for -al'ety, he mav
have been captured nn tie way. But the whole
-tory seenM to be founded in the wi-h to connect
Saint Patrick with the limnans and the Roman

Hi~t. ..!' Ki^hii.i uinK-r tin-
vol. i. |M.. , ;,.nl Driui,^ vol. ii.

p. 72.

48 SAINT PATRICK

Church. The better authorities do not support it.
The second, third and fourth " Lives" in Colgan's
collection make Patrick to have been captured
"near Alcluaid," by a fleet of Irish pirates.
About six years later he is found at home again
with his parents in Britain, a country named as
one entirely distinct from Gaul.

In the Confession there is not a word to show
that Saint Patrick had brothers and sisters. But
on this subject the monks seem to have been quite
inventive, placing on the family roll of Calpurnius
a list of descendants long enough to supply two or
three kingdoms with bishops, priests, monks and
nuns. One sister was carried to Ireland and became
the mother of seventeen bishops ! Another counted
among her sons four bishops and three priests ; she
was Limania, whose eldest son was Sechnall, a
bishop, and the youngest, Lugna, a priest. There
was perhaps a Sechnall or Secundinus, who wrote
a poem upon the life of St. Patrick, one of the
most ancient in existence. But who his mother
was none can tell.

A few years since, Dr. George Petrie * found on
the " Island of the Religious Foreigner," in the

* Round Towers and Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland,
by George Petrie, p. 162 ; Todd's St. Patrick, p. 365.

SAINT PATRICK. 49

county of Gal way, Ireland, a tomb-stone whose
date ran scarcely be later than the beginning of the
Mxth century. On it is this Celtic inscription:
Lie L/ugnaedon Macclmene — " The stone of Lugna,
son of Linumia." Perhaps it was raised over the
grave of a nephew of Saint Patrick. He may have
been a native of Britain, gone as a Culdee mis
sionary to Ireland, had his cell on the little island,
and there died ; \vhenrr the place was called "the
Isle of the Religious Foreigner." For this there is
one fossil fact, a mere name on a gravestone, which
happens to agree with a line in a legend. But for
the real wr have only tiililrs, and Tillemont was
.-air in rejecting them all.

The small boats which carried the young Patrick
and his companions, with a weight of spoils, would
}>< likely to make land at some near point. Leav
ing tin- Firth of the Clyde, a straight course west
would .brini; them upon the Antrim coast, just
where tradition fixes the landing. This tends to
show that the capture was not in Gaul, but at
Aleluyd. It appear that Patrick was first sold to
four brothers. Fiacc's hymn r\\i\< :

1 1 was called Cathraige,
For he served four families." *

* Latin version by Colgan.

50 SA INT PA TRICK.

One of these brothers is said to have been
Milchu, a savage master, a cruel king of Dalaradia,
and a Druid. Not liking the joint-stock arrange
ment, and greatly pleased with the faithfulness of
the slave, he bought the shares of his brothers and
became sole possessor. Patrick might well prefer
to serve one master rather than four, even if the
one was a tyrant.

At this point we have light from the Confession.
It shows that Patrick was sent daily into the fields
to herd cattle ; that he watched them by night, in
the rain, in the snows, and all the year long, and
that these severe trials were to him a means of
grace. He remembered happier days. He thought
upon his sins. He felt that he was far from Christ,
the true home of his soul. He recalled the teach
ings of God's servants, and the lessons learned in
his father's house. The seed of truth, long buried
in his heart, sprang up and grew. Not in vain
had he been devoted to the Lord in his infancy,
and taught how to pray; not in vain were his
parents' prayers still renewed and ascending to the
Great High Priest, who was touched with the feel
ing of their infirmities and his bitter endurances.

" After I had come to Ireland," he says in the
Confession, " I was employed every day in tending

SAINT PATRICK. 61

sheep ; and I used to stay in the woods and on the
mountain. I prayed frequently. The love and
the ii-ar of God and faith increased so miieh. and
the spirit of prayer so grew within me, that I often
prayed an hundred times in the day, and almost as
often in the ni^ht. 1 frequently rose to prayer in
the \vonds bell .re daylight, in snow, and frost, and
rain ; and I felt no evil, nor was there any sloth
in me; for, as I now see, the Spirit was burning
within me.

"And there the Lord opened my unbelieving
mind, so that, even late, I thought of my sins, and
my whole heart was turned to the Lord my God,
who looked down upon my low condition, had pitv
on my youth and ignoranee, and preserved me
before J knew him, and before I knew good from
evil, and guarded, protected and cherished me,
as a father would a son. This I certainly know,
that b«'t!.iv (iod humbled me I wa- like a stone
lyiiiLT di-rp in the mire; but when he came, who
had all power to do it, he raised me in his
Jin-rev and put me on a very high place. Where-
i;"v I miiM notify aloud, in nrd.-r to make some
return to the Lord for such grM blessings, in time
and in eternity, which no human rea-on i- able
to estimate."

52 SAINT PATRICK.

Such was the experience of young Patrick;
religion with him was deep heart-work. Its
power came from the Lord ; the Holy Ghost im
parted the love and fear of God. Such was his
account of his conversion, written in his old age.
How he remembered those first convictions of sin
and helplessness, the earnestness of those first
prayers, the ardour of that first love, and all that
blessedness ! He drew the portrait of a new con
vert without intending it. How much does it
reveal ! If a painting by Raphael tells us the
state of art among the Italians in his time, does
not Saint Patrick's description of his own ex
perience tell us what religion was held to be in his
days by the Irish Christians ? It was not ritual,
but spiritual ; not a matter of forms, but of faith ;
not penance, but repentance ; not saint-worship,
but the grateful adoration of God ; not priest -work,
but heart-work ; not a mere reform of the conduct,
but a regeneration of the soul. Surely he was
never the man that thousands of his adorers be
lieve him to have been ! That portrait would never
have been drawn by a papist. The young man
whom it represented, and the old man who drew
it, were the same Patrick; and surely he never
believed that a church must confer the salvation

SAINT PATRICK. 53

of Christ — that God's grace and Spirit must come
through the hands of a priest! To what confes
sional did he go in the wilderness but that only
one of God, the mercy-seat, the throne of grace?
That was ever near him amid the rain, the snow,
and the darkness. To whom could he go but unto
Him who had the words of eternal life?

"Such words as these," says D'Aubigne, "from
tin- lips of a swineherd* in the green pastures of
Ireland, set dearly before us the Christianity
\vhieh in the fourth and fifth centuries converted
many souls in the British Isles. In after years
Rome e.-tabli.-hed the dominion of priests :ind
salvation by forms, independently of the disposi
tions <>f the heart; but the primitive religion of
these celebrated islands was that living ( 'liristianity
whose MI! Mane.- is the grace of Jesus Christ, and
whose power is the grace of the Holy Ghost. The
herd-man from the banks of the Clyde was then
undeivinLT those experience-; which so many
evangelical ( 'hri.-tians in those countries have since
undergone. Evangelical faith, even then, existed
in the BritMi Island- in the pn^on of this -lave,
and of some fc\v ( 'hri-t ians b«»rn again, like him,
from on hi^h."

* Quoting Ut«her: porcoi -rtU.

CHAPTER III.

THE ESCAPE.

IX years wore away, but there seemed to be
no promotion for Patrick. Twenty-two
years of age, vigorous and enterprising, he
thought of being something else than a
herdsman. A heavenly Father's correction had
wakened him from his sleep of death to a higher
life ; the great Shepherd had a nobler work for him
to do. He began to have dreams, as so many of
God's servants have had in all ages, wondering
what they meant, and whether a divine hand and
voice were in them. It will not appear strange to
most Christians that several of his dreams are re
corded in the Confession. Those who choose may
treat them as legends, unworthy of credit; he
seems to have thought they came from God.

One night, as he tells us, he seemed to hear a
voice saying, "Thy fasting is well; thou shalt
soon return to thy country." He waited, watched,
but no way of return appeared. Again he dreamed,
and the sa. ne voice said, " Behold, the ship is

54

SAINT PATRICK. 55

ready for you." But he was told that it was far
di-taut.* Hi- did not feel bound to go to his
master, tell him all. settle up :i Hairs, shake hands
and bid him farewell. If the cruel chief found
that his favourite slave was missing sonic morning,
he must make the best of it. The Lord was re
covering his stolen property. *'I took to flight,"
li<- informs us, "ami left the man with whom 1 had
hem for six years. I went in the power of the
Lord, who directed my way for good, :ind I feared
nothing until I came to the place where the ship
lay. The ship was then clcarintr "Ut, and I asked
for a. passage in her. The master of the vessel
became angry and said, "Do not pretend to come
with us." On hearing this 1 retired, lor the pur
pose of going to the cabin where I had been re
ceived :i.~ a jruest, t and while going thither I began
to pray. But before I had finished my prayer, I
heard one of the men crying out to me, "Come
back quickly, for these men are calling you." I

* "Two hundred miles," is ih« present reading in the Book

\rm:iKh. liut it IB supposed to be an error of the tran-

prrilwr. The scholiast on Place's Hymn has it, ''Sixty

iniU-.s, or, as others says, a hundred/' a proof thnt tlu-re were

various readings or traditions. — Todda Si. Patrick, p. 367.

f Or " to the hut where I used to dwell," at the risk of being
ill-treated by his master. — Tttlemont.

56 SAINT PATRICK.

returned at once. They said to me, " Come, for we
receive you in faith ; make friends with us, as you
please !"

He was surprised to hear them speak of faith,
for he saw that they were heathens, but he hoped
they meant to say, " Come in the faith of Jesus
Christ," or he hoped that they might come over to
the faith of Christ. He went with them. They
were three days* at sea, probably making for the
coast of Scotland. The sea must have been rough,
the course lost, the harbour missed and the vessel
driven upon some desolate shore. For twenty-
eight days they " wandered in a desert, ;" a region
laid waste by the ravages of the warlike tribes, or
from which pirates had caused the natives to flee.
They ran short of provisions. Patrick seems to
have spoken to the sailors of the power of God, of
prayer and of trust in his providence. Want
would impress the lesson.

" What sayest thou, Christian ?" asked the leader
of the party. " Thy God is great and all-powerful.
* Dr. Lanigan brings Patrick from Dalaradia, full two hun
dred miles, to Bantry Bay, thence in three days to the
coast of Gaul. He gives credit to a story that the fugitive had
been seized by a wild Irishman and sold to certain sailors or
merchants of Gaul.— Ecd. Hist., i. 150. The legends bandy
him about as a slave and captive most wonderfully.

SAINT PA TRICK. 57

Why, then. canst thou not pray to him for us? For
we perish with hunger, and can find here no in
habitants."

" Turn ye in faith to ray Lord God, to whom
nothing is impossible," Patrick replied, "and he
will send you food, for he has abundance every
where." Soon they came upon a herd of swine;
they slew, ate, rested and remained in that place
I'm- two nights. "After this," he says, M they gave
thanks to God and I was honoured in their eyes."
When some wild honey was found, one of the
.-a i lore offered Patrick a part of it, saying, "This
is an offering, thanks to God !" But he refused it,
suspecting that the man had some superstition-;
notions in his mind, or had offered it to a heathen

l^< M 1 .

The same night an event occurred which he could
never forget. He must have had a night -man- :
he thought it a temptation of Satan. " I felt a- if
a great stone had fallen upon me. I could n«t
move a limb. How it came into my mind to call
out Helia8 [or Eli] I know not ; but at that mo
ment I saw the >un ri-inu in the heaven-, and
whil.-t I cried nut //»•//'/*/ lliHnx! with all my
mi^ht, lo, the brightness of the -tin fell upon me,
and straightway removed all the weight."

58 SAINT PATRICK.

This has been considered " a sufficient proof"*
that in his earlier days Saint Patrick invoked the
saints. But it is no proof at all. Even if he
called upon Elias, he says that he knew not how it
came into his mind. It was something unusual ;
it was not his habit in youth ; he could not explain
how it happened in his old age. Moreover, Elias
was never invoked as a saint in the Roman Church
before the fourteenth century, nor in the Greek
before the tenth. In some of the more ancient
" Lives" the word is not " Helias" but " Eli." It
may have stood thus in the original copy of the
Confession, as Dr. Todd suggests.f

But what did Patrick mean by « Eli ?" If he
knew the gospels, he must have remembered the
Saviour's loud cry, when on the cross. Without
knowing what it meant, he may have used it in
his strange distress. But the name Eli, " my God,"
was sometimes applied to Christ in the early
centuries, as in the hymn of Hilary of Poictiers.
Patrick might have heard it thus used before he was
a captive. When in trouble he may have uttered it;
he " knew not how it came into his mind." He
was not accustomed to invoke God by that name in

*Lanigan, Carew.

fTodd's St. Patrick, pp. 370-373.

SA INT PA TRICK. 59

his prayers. No miracle is described. He cried
aloud, and just then the sun was i-Mnir. The spell
WBI Lr"iic. But he long afterward believed that
(i<.d flowed him men y at that time. No saiut
had helped him. He says, "I am persuaded that
J was relieved by Chri.-t my Lord, and that his
Spirit t hen cried out for me, and I tru.-t it maybe
so in the day of my trouble, for the Lord saith in
the gospel, ' It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit
of your Father, which speaketh in you !"* When
he was so nearly a>lecp, and BO benumbed that he
did not think of calling upon his God, the Spirit
prompted him to pray. This may he his meaning.
\\V have dwelt upon this, because it is the only
instance in the ( 'mill >H <>n which can be wrested to
MijijM.rt the invocation of the .-a into.

For sixty da\> Patrick \\andered about with the
sailors. This gave rise to the story of a second
captivity ;f perhaps he so regarded it. It is
evident that lie jrrew weary of his company, for he
says that on the sixtieth ni^ht (after leaving his

•Matthew x. 20.

f I'P.I.II-. tin- HnlhiiMli-ts, ami others. Neander repre
sent* him a> carried away again from hi« home by pirates,
and "after sixty days" restored to liUrty. — Mem. Ch. Life, p.
426.

60 SAINT PA TRICK.

master, probably) "the Lord delivered me from
their hands." The accounts of his wanderings on
the French coasts,, con verting the mariners, going
home with them and converting their countrymen,
travelling about in Europe and ever drifting
Homeward, have not a shadow of foundation in
the Confession. It goes on to say : " After a few
years [of absence in captivity] I was again with
my parents in Britain,* who received me as a son,
and earnestly besought me never to leave them
again, after having endured such great tribula
tions."

The Clyde, the great rock, the few lingering
Roman soldiers — and the home of his youth had no
longer any power to retain him in his native land.
To prove himself a real Succath, " strong in war,"
and make himself a captain fearful in Pictish eyes,
was not to his mind. He had other thoughts.
Loving them still, he could leave father and
mother for the sake of Christ. When he slept he
saw Ireland in visions, and heard the voices of its
youth calling upon him to hasten and help them.
Of his dream he says, " In the dead of night I
saw a man coming to me as if from Ireland, whose

f Brittaniis. Villanueva reads, " Britannia." Bede used
the plural form, for Britain was divided into several parts.

SAINT PATRICK. 61

name was Victor,* bearing innumerable epistles.
And he gave me one of them, and I read the be
ginning of it, which contained the words, 'The
voice of the Irish.' And while repeating them, I
imagined that I heard in my mind the voice of
those who were near the wood of Foclut, which is
near the Western Sea. Thus they cried, 'We
pray thee, holy youth, to come and henceforth walk
among us.' I was pierced in heart, and could
read no more; and so I awoke. Thanks be to
God, that after very many years the Lord granted
unto them the blessing for which they cried !

" Again on another night — I know not, God
knoweth, whether it was within me or near me, I
heard distinctly words which I could not under
stand, except these at the close : ' He who gave his
life for thee is he who speaketh in thee.' And so
1 ;i\voke rejoicing." In some of his dreams he
was led to recall such texts of Scripture as these :
"The Spirit helpeth our infirmities." "Christ,
who maketh intercession for us." If such was the
effect of his dreaming, it was not in vain. There

* This man Victor is called an angel in the " Lives" written
by Saint Patrick's adorers. The name is given to his supposed
guardian angel. What he relates aa a dream they represent
as a reality. What he " imagined" they make miraculous.

62 SAINT PATRICK.

is nothing here absurd. All is quite consistent
with the feelings of a man who is enthusiastic
and eager to tell the good news of salvation to a
barbarous people. We should not forget his object
in telling these dreams. It was to show that he
did not assume the ministry of his own accord.
He was not sent by men. He felt that he was
called of God. If he thought that his call was
supernatural, and that there was something more
than imagination in his visions, it was only what
many other excellent men have thought concerning
their own dreams. Rightly or wrongly, he took
them as signs that he was commissioned by the
Lord to preach the gospel in Ireland.

Is it at all likely that he spent thirty-five years
in studies and travels before returning to Ireland ?
Is it likely that he waited until he was sixty years
of age before preaching anywhere ? Did he roam
about from the year 395 to the year 432, now
studying with Martin of Tours, now at the re
nowned monastery at Lerins, and again at Rome ?
And all this time dreaming of Ireland, and think
ing that God was calling him to the work? It
can hardly be credited. But we may well sup
pose that he studied for several years in the best
school that he could afford.

CHAPTER IV.

THE FAILURES OF PALLADIUS.

<
Y (I HILE Patrick is preparing for his work in

I Ireland, let us see how far the field ia pre-
pared for him. We shall thus understand

& that some efforts of his predecessors were
afterward ascribed to him in order to increase his
glory.

It is, to this day, the boast of every true Irish
man that Erin was never invaded by the Romans
— the Caesars gained no footing there. Its brave,
warlike, hospitable, high-minded people detested
the idea of being a mere province of the great
empire. They appear to have sent boat-loads of
heroes across the Channel to aid their brethren, the
Scots, against the foreign army on the Clyde.
Hating Roman soldiers, woul< I they love Roman
missionaries? It nii^lit have been hard for even a
Briton to gain a hearing among them.

Who first taught i 1 in Ireland has never

been shown to the people of our days. It may be
putt ing the case too boldly to say that " the Church

64 SAINT PATRICK.

of Lyons and that of Ireland were both founded
by Greeks, and the Scotch and Irish clergy long
spoke no other tongue.'7* O'Halloran, a Romanist,
says : " I strongly suspect that by Asiatic or
African missionaries, or through them by Spanish
ones, were our ancestors instructed in Christianity,
because they rigidly adhered to their customs as to
tonsure and the time of Easter. Certain it is that
Patrick found a hierarchy established in Ireland."
As to the " hierarchy" there is no evidence. The
very notion of one, before Patrick, is stoutly op
posed by other Roman Catholic historians. " It is
certain," says Father Brenan, "that there was
neither a hierarchy nor a Christian bishop in
Ireland antecedent to the period of which we are
treating (431), although it is highly probable that
the natives, in many parts of the island, were
by no means unacquainted with the Christian
religion." f

No doubt at an early day there were in the
southern part of Ireland "some few Christian
families, separated from each other, and probably
ignorant of each other's existence. ... It cannot
be denied that the traditions of Irish Church

* Michelet, Hist, of France, ch. iii.
f Brenan's Eccl. Hist, of Ireland, ch. i.

SA INT PA TRICK. 65

history speak of isolated congregations of Chris
tians in Ireland before the arrival of Patrick."*
They are to be counted among " the Scots believ
ing on Christ" before Pal hid ins was sent to them
as their '"first l>i-hop," as a bishop was then held
to be at Komc. The case will be cleared if we
assume that their teachers and ministers were
Culdce- — that in many a quiet place was a cell,
and the simple-hearted people gathered to hear the
Word and \vorship God.

The affairs of " the infant Church" of Ireland
began to be talked of at Rome, where Celestine
was chit-f bishop, and the error was gaining
strength that he was the high pontiff of all the
churchc.- in the world. The Christians of Ireland
ought to acknowledge him as "the holy lather"
and pope! W hat a blessing to them, if they only
knew it! The Lr,,.p(.l mill-lit l»ewith them, but the
order- of clergy wen- wanting. They might have
Clm-i, but they had not the Church in its latest
and most improved form. They had followed the
simple apM-tle-, but were far behind the wise
fathers. They mi^ht have presbyters, but they had
no high prelate — riot even "a bishop J"

Celestine wa- m->ved " by the increasing number
*T. ' .Mi«k, pp. 189,221.

66 SAINT PATRICK.

of Christians there,"* to act as a father toward
"the infant Church" of the remote island. He
would knit ties between it and the Church of Rome.
Those artless Christians should have all the benefit
of the improvements invented by men, who saw
in the great Roman empire their model for Chris
tendom, and who constructed offices in the Church
to correspond with the offices in the State. They
should have a bishop, a sort of church pro-consul,
or resident legate — one who would not merely look
after the sheep, but hold a general rule over the
shepherds. He cast his eye about on his clergy to
find a proper man. He wished to send him, not to
the heathen Irish, but to " the Scotsf believing on
Christ," and yet, " whose faith was not right ;" not
to be a missionary, but a ruler; not merely to
preach, but to use power; not to convert the
ignorant so much as to confirm the believers in the
gospel according to Rome ; not to bring the pagans
unto Christ, so much as to bring Christians under
the Roman Church.

Among the men of promise and zeal was Pal-

* Moore's Hist. Ireland, p. 209.

f The Scots of Ireland as well as of Scotland. Thackeray
supposes that Patrick requested Celestine to send a bishop to
Ireland. — Anc. Brit. ii. 166.

.v.i /.v y y.i y/;/' K. 67

lad i us. There is small proof that he was a native
of Britain and a deacon of the Church of Rome.
It seems clearer that he was quite sound in doctrine,
holding with Aujru-tine tin ^reat truths of man's
native depravity, inability to save himself ami need
of Christ's atonement and power. He was grieved
to see the errors of IVhiirins taking root in the
British Isles — errors growing out of the denial of
man's sinfulness by nature, and leading fallen
sinners to think that they could save themselves by
their own moral works. He wished some strong
defender of the faith to be sent to Britain, in
answer to a loud call from that quarter for the aid
of some defender of the truth. Perhaps he had
some part in >< ndin^ Gcrmanus in his own stead,
t<» displace the heretics and direct the Britons to
the Catholic faith."* Perhaps it was he who told
Celestinr aUo of the believers in Ireland " wlio-r
faith was not right." Their error, however, was
not iVla-jiani-m.

Hen- wa> tlic man to place over tin- < 'hri-tian>
of In-hind. lit- w:i.- rui-ed to a bi.-hop, and \.\).
431 .-em forth by Celeetiiu ,t with a -oodly array

* I'rospi-r's ('hroniclt . I '--!>. r'- 1 : .',ti«|.

f " France wan probably I lie country iVnin wliicb I'.illadiiH
and lii> companiong came; and tin- mi-ion to Ireland. ..!'

68 SAINT PATRICK.

of attendants. He went thinking that those
" believers greatly needed the unity which a bishop
alone could give them." Of course some of the
Romish historians relate that Patrick was chosen
to attend Palladius. Of course they represent the
bishop as carrying with him, not only a copy of the
Sacred Scriptures, but also " a portion of the relics
of St. Peter and St. Paul !"

Palladius thus appears as " an emissary of the
Roman See, whose object was to organize Chris
tianity among the Scots of Ireland and Scotland,
in accordance with what was then the Roman
model. The civil power of Rome being on the
wane, the ecclesiastical power began to rise on its
ruins, and there may have been no little connection
between the two processes ; the loss of one species
of power may have helped an ambitious people,
accustomed to universal dominion, to seek after the
establishment of another."*

On the Wicklow coast he landed, but he was
not well received. Why not? An old Irish
chronicler says of him : " He was sent to convert

which he was the head, although sanctioned by the See of
Rome, was in reality projected and sent forth by the Gallican
Church."— Todds St. Patrick, p. 280.
* McLauchlan, Early Scot. Ch. p. 88.

SAINT PATRICK. 69

this island, lying under wintry cold, but God
hindered him, for no man can receive anything
from earth unless it be given him from heaven ;
for neither did those fierce and savage men receive
his doctrine readily, nor did he himself wish to
spend time in a land not his own."

It appears that he began to preach "in the
country of the Hy Garchon," but their prince,
Nathi, took offence, and ordered him to leave.
Palladius had not the zeal needed to force his
opinions and make converts, nor the courage of
which heroes and martyrs are made, or he had such
tenderness toward the native Christians that he did
not wish to bring trouble upon them. Some tell
us that he was driven back by the violence of the
barbarians ; others, that " he paraded his authority
before the Christians and pagans of the island, and
excited the opposition of both ; and after vain efforts
to subdue them to the authority of his master on
the Tiber, he was compelled to abandon his design
and flee the country."* The enmity of a heathen
chieftain may have been one cause of th<> failure.
" But the Roman missionary might also have to
thank hi- own uncompromising opposition to the
pn;jtnlir«'s of tho-r Christian communities, who are
* Ireland and the Irish. By Kirwan, N. T. Observer, 1865.

70 SAINT PATRICK.

mentioned as the sole object of this visit, and whose
co-operation, undoubtedly, was necessary for the suc
cess of any endeavours to Christianize their pagan
neighbours."* These artless followers of Christ did
not want such a bishop over them. They let him
know it, and regarded it as sheer impertinence for
him or his master to interfere with their simple
rites and their independence. The tradition is,
that he founded three small churches in Ireland,
in one of which he placed the " relics of the
apostles" that he had carried with him !

It is curious to find the name Patricius, or
Patrick, given to him by some of the oldest Irish
writers. He was thus called in Ireland for
centuries. It is an important fact. It has caused
very much of the confusion in the accounts of
Saint Patrick. Events in the life of the one have
been carried over into the life of the other, thus
robbing Palladius to pay Patrick. This will
furnish us with a key to certain legends soon to be
noticed. Palladius did not go back in despair the
way whence he came. There were other " Scots
believing in Christ" to be visited. An ancient
writer tells us that on leaving the people who had
rejected him, " he was forced to go round the coast
* Soames' Latin Church in Anglo-Saxon Times, p. 53.

SAINT PATRICK. 71

of Ireland toward the north, until, driven by a
great tempest, he reached the extreme part of
3Iodltni< I It [M earns?], toward the south, where he
founded the church of Fordoun, and Pledi is his
name there." But Fordoun is not in the south of
Scotland ; it is in the north-east, not far from Aber
deen. Nor is it in the ancient land of the Scots,
but in that of the Picts, where a Roman camp had
been established. Did the Scots refuse to accept
him as their bishop ? Did he then go among the
Picts and found a church? Did he there lay aside
his official dignities and work as a missionary?
His name seems to have become somewhat popular
at that place. The church and a neighbouring well
were dedicated to him. He may have proved
himself an enterprising man, devoting his energies
to the good of the people, in temporal matters as well
us spiritual. To this day in that town an annual
inurket is called Palladie's fair, or " Pady fair, after
Palladiu- himself."* This goes to show that he lived
there for year-, rather than u lew months. To make
the end of his mission suit the beginning of Saint
Patrick'-, it has been usual to fix his deatli at
March 16, 432, not perhaps a year after his lir>t
landing in Ireland. This looks like shortening his

* Anc. Ch. Scot, in S|..,ttiswoode Miscellany, j.

72 SAINT PATRICK.

ministry for the express benefit of the " apostle of
Ireland." The story that " he was crowned with
martyrdom" may be only a smoother way of saying
that foul work was made with the facts of his life.
More sacredly is his life treated by the Scottish
traditions. Longer space is given to it. There
was no temptation to shorten his days and erase
his deeds. He seems to have had some disciples,
who became eminent missionaries. One of them
was Servanus. The story* is that he was a native
Scot, " lived according to the forms and rites of the
primitive Church" until the coming of Palladium.
'• The holy Servanus" was attracted to the new
bishop;! he received instruction; he aided in
teaching the people "the orthodox faith," and the
right form of the Church ; he taught the Christian
law to the clergy; and Palladius raised him to the
dignity of a bishop. All this could not well have
been done in a few weeks or months. The date is
supposed to be 440. If Servanus founded the in
stitution on the little isle of Loch Levin, as has

* In the Breviary of Aberdeen. It is Romish authority,
and favours the. Culdee theory.

f " Scotland had never before seen a bishop, and was in a
state of extreme barbarism." Milner, Ch. Hist. Cent. V. ch. xi.
The want of such bishops was hardly the cause or the proof
of the alleged barbarity.

SAINT PATRICK. 73

been claimed for ages, he would seem not to have
departed very far from the Culdee -y-tem. He
still had his inland cell. There urn^- upaCuldee
establishment, which stoutly re-i-ted the advances
of Koine until the twelfth ceiiturv.

Another dix-iple- vw Tcrnanu-. a Boot hv birth,
of noble blood, and l.apti/ed l,y Palladin-. "If
it l.e tree that he l.apti/ed Ternanns when a child,
M i: « >;>i'l !»«• did, and ordained him at last
bishop of the Piets, he must have lived a good
while; and indeed Polydore Virgil, in his history
of Kn-land, l.rin-s him down to the reiirn of ( !on-
stantine. . . . in the year 457."* Jf Ternanus
was hapti/ed in adult age, and made a bishop
within a \\-\\ month- after Palladius came, the one
miiM have IM en a good and wise Christian for years,
or the other a very poor and imprudent overseer
of the Church. This ordination must have taken
place at a rnnch later day than 432, when th<-,.
who -lorily Saint Patrick hasten Saint Palladius
into hi- grave. Tln-e aceonnts had us to l.elieve
that Palladia lived and laboured MWft] JFCMI in
•ind, and died at I-'ord..iin, \vlirrc hi- tomb ffftf
ritl.-d at a lain- day, and hi- relic- pre-erved until

'•'•Haiiy, I ' :,,!,;,. c,,iv«TM-ll.-
.'h :«t \. I '

74 SAIXT PATRICK.

the time of the Reformation.* True, these rre
traditions ; they are found in records of the Middle
Ages ; hut they are quite as well founded as the
story about Saint's Patrick's commission from
Home to succeed the deceased Palladius. There is
more reason to believe that Palladius lived beyond
the year 432 than that Patrick took up his com
mission in the same year, and went as " the second
bishop" to the Scots in Ireland. There is not the
slightest evidence that the death of the one had
any connection with the mission of the other.

What if Palladius did not die in 432? What
if Celestine did? The latter could not appoint
Saint Patrick as the successor of the former. It
is worthy of notice that Celestine is the only
Roman bishop who is said to have given his sanc
tion to the missionary.

* Ussher, Brit. Eccl. Antiq. cap. xvi., Spott. Miss. 466.

CHAPTER V.

SIFTING THE LEGENDS.

UK tares of fable arc not to be bound up
IJ with the wheat of history. To set forth
., t IK- true Saint Patrick from the fabulous,
^G> we notice some of the mavellous talcs that
have b.-en told of him. None of them were
written duriii-.: hi- time: they were inventnl
after he ha«l been several hundred years in his
grave. Hi- Ilomi.-h biographers ol' this day are
<juite a.-hamed to repeat the most ridiculous of
them. lint yet they nivo us the thread on which
they arc M rung, and <"dl it history. By sifting a
few of the legends we may the better know the real
man from the myth ol' the monk-.

The -urn of the-.- It-end- i- a- follow.- : AfhT
Patrick had re<-» ived the vi-ion of an an^'-l calling
him to Ireland, he went to ( irrmamis fur advicr.
(irrmatin- had been a lawyer, a soldin- and a
military commander, fluid of rough life, a noted
hunter, and aceiM.'ined to -lay wild bea-ts and
their head- on a tree in the public .-(jiiar

76 SAINT PA TRICK.

Auxerre. It was -a heathen custom. It displeased
the bishop, Amator, who had the tree cut down,
and for this was driven from the town by the com
mander. But it was revealed to Amator that his
enemy should one day become bishop of Auxerre.
This was coming to pass, and Germanus was a lay
man in the Church and a general in the army when
Patrick visited him on the banks of the Yonne in
the heart of France. There he studied four years ;
some say thirty ! Fiacc says of Patrick,

" He traversed the whole of Albion,
He crossed the sea — it was a happy voyage ;
He took up his abode with Germanus,
Far away to the south of America,"

Then he went to Tours, where he passed four
years with Martin, the bishop, who is represented
as his uncle on the mother's side. It was im
portant to connect him with this great man in the
Western Church, who did so much to advance the
claims and the glory of Rome. There his head
was shorn ; the tonsure marked him as one of the
lower clergy. Then he grew wise in " church dis
cipline," and learned to convert flesh into fish !

His guardian-angel does not lose sight of him.
He commands the young Patrick to pass some time
with "the people of God," that is, the barefoot

SAINT PATRICK. 77

hermit- in -ome retired corner of the world, which
thev thoii-ht wa- <|iiite out of it. With them he
li liters eii:hi year-, and becomes a quite passable
monk. Thence he is sent by the angel to visit
certain islander- in t lie " Tyrrhene Sea." He find-
three other Patricks in a solitary cave, and a-k-
leave to dwell with them. They an.-wer that he
cannot unle-- he will draw water from a certain
fountain which is guarded by a very savage wild
beast. He agrees to this. He goes to the fountain.
The ravenous beast sees him; give- rignfl «»f ^nat
joy, and becomes u <|iiite tame and gentle." Patrick
draws the water and return- with a ble.-.-iiiM;. The
four Patrick- dwell tn^-eilier for nine years.* Per
haps the Roman i-t- ln>t the true one there, and
liave followed the wronu' one in the various rambles
which they record! The more sober version of
this part of the -tory is that Patrick the r,ritoii
studied for Some time in the celebrated niona-tcry
at Lei-ins, to which he was >ent by LUJMI-, the

bi-hoj. ,,|' Troyes.f

A-ain the aiiirrl aj>|»ears, >ayin«r, "Go to St.

Senior, a bi.-lmp wlm i- in Mount llenimn, on the
SOUtli -idc «.!' the oc.-an, and hi- city i- tortilird

* Vita 'lYrtia, in ( lol

i.atin ( Inn. li ; Caivw, Ki-rl. Hi.-t. Ir»-l:iiul.

78 SAINT PA TRICK.

with seven walls." He understands better than we
do the angel's geography. He goes, for nothing is
easier than for him to travel great distances. Here
he is ordained a priest. Here come to him the
voices of the children in Ireland, entreating him to
hasten and teach them. " Go to Ireland" is the
angel's command.

" I cannot," he replied, " because bad men dwell
there."

" Go," is the word again.

" I cannot unless I see the Lord." Patrick goes
forth with nine men, and sees the Lord, who takes
him to his right hand and declares to him,

" Go thou to Ireland, and there preach the word
of eternal life."

" I ask of thee three petitions," answered
Patrick — "that the men of Ireland be rich in gold
and silver ; that I may be their patron ; and that,
after this life, I may sit on thy right hand in
heaven." (Surely this is not our Patrick !)

" Patrick, thou shalt have what thou hast asked ;
and, moreover, whosoever shall commemorate thee
by day or by night shall not perish for ever."

He then goes to Ireland as a priest. But the
people refuse to listen to him, for he has no com
mission from Rome. It is not enough that the

SA INT PA TRICK. 79

Lord ha- -cut him. He mu>t have a different au
thority. Not Heaven, but Rome, must send him,
IM -fore he can have any -necos ! Hr -u-pects the
cause of his defeat, and pray- t«» the Lord:
"Who did-t i:iiide my path through the ( lauls and
Italy unto these islands, lead me, I beseech thee,
to the holy B66 of the Roman ( 'hureh, that I niav
thence reeeive ;inthurity to preaeh thy word with
faithfulness and tl.at the people of Hiberni may
by me be made Christians."* (What impiety!
1- not the hand of a monk in all thi-'.')

Patrick then Beta "in H»r Koine. On his way he
again vi-it> (lermann^, and i- fni'thur -ehouled into
habit- ..f monkish devotion, The angel iirp-s him
i" go back to Ireland: he starts, and Germanus

-end- \\illl hilll Se^-etiu< the pre^bvler. Not \'e| i-s

he a bishop, for I'alladin- had been sent with that
rank to the Iri-h. At Kmhoria lie i- met by the
former Companions of Palladium and they tell him
I'alladiu- i- dead. He then turn- a-ide to "a man
of wondn.ii* -aiietiiy. a ehief bi-hop. named A ma-
tor («»r Amatorexi, dwelling in a n"i«j-hbouriiiir
pl-iee," and by him Patriek i- consecrated a bMn.p.
rpon tin- lie (jiiiekly takes ship, and n-aehe< the
unfriendly -bore- ,,f the Kmerdd I-le. His
* Probiis, quuttV by Tu.l.I. St. l':it.-i,-k, :','J4-326.

80 SAINT PATRICK.

labours are successful. But in this story there is
nothing of his having been at Rome, nor of a com
mission from "the pope.77 The genius of Probus
was clouded in regard to the Roman mission. Of
that invention he seems not to have been aware.

But we have not yet reached the climax of
monkish fable. We have left out something,
which \ve could not weave into the foregoing ac
count. It is this: On one of his many visits to
Germanus he is thus advised: "Go to the succes
sor of St. Peter, namely Celestine, that he may or
dain thee, for this office belongs to him." Patrick
goes, but Celestine gives him no honour, because
he has already sent Palladius to Ireland. One
bishop to that country is all that he can afford.
After this repulse Patrick goes with Segetius to an
island in u the Tyrrhene Sea." [One version is
that he took this island on his way to Rome.]
There he comes to a house which seems to be new.
There the master, who appears to be a very young
man, points him to a very old woman, and says,
"She is my daughter's granddaughter!" And
much more quite as wonderful. Those who ap
pear youngest are the oldest on that blessed isle.
They had been in the habit of showing hospitality
to every traveller passing that way. One night a

SAINT PATRICK. 81

pilgrim had oorae with a staff in his hand, and
they had a precious relic- which had the power of
preserving those who sacredly kept it in all the
freshness of youth. He was lodged with all kind
ness. In the morning he told them that he was
the Lord Jesus, and leaving the staff with them,
said, " Keep it safely. After a long time a certain
pilgrim will come named Patrick;* give it to
him." Then Patrick refused to take the staff, un
less he should receive it from the Lord himself.
Three days afterward he went with these remark-
iiMe people to Mount Hermon in the neighbour
hood, and there it wa< ^Iven to him to qualify him
for the ronveision of Ireland. He went again to
Home [it \va> the lirsi time, according to some],
and w:i- received with favour, for Celestine had
MOW heard of the death of Palladius. He was
then ordained u bisliop, t^iven the name of Patrick,
and -.Mit on the irivMt mi — ion, with a fair supply
of relie^, which, as some will have it, he filched
from the pope. Three choirs th.-n smir praises—

* The author of this wretched story forgot to n-pn-^-nt thii
name as aft. -rwunl uivru to him hy •' Pope Celestine," when In-
received hi< n,riiini.~ion. Tin- st.-itl1 ti-ur.-^ l.-irK-Iy in the
Irk. Th.- |.r.-t.-n.l,-.| n-lir was long
k.-jit. IMII piihlifly hiinn-il .-it th«- }{. -f ..nnntion.
6

82 SAINT PATRICK.

one in heaven ; another in Rome, and a third in
the wood of Erin, where the children were still
calling for " the saint'7 to come and bless them.*
What their ages were is not told, but Patrick's is
set down at sixty ! He had passed nearly forty
years in study and in the chase after the true
Church ! Verily some of our modern brethren
may take courage ; they are not likely to have a
rougher time than had this mythical Saint Patrick
in getting to Rome.

Such are the stories. Modern Romanists tone
down the absurdities, and out of these trifling
legends weave the accounts of Patrick's studies on
the Continent and his commission from the pope.
What truth is there in them ? None whatever, we
believe, so far as Saint Patrick is concerned. The
greater part are incredible ; the rest untrue. We
have passed over some of the ' contradictions and
absurdities. We may sift out a few items of ap
parent fact, but they seem to • belong to the life of
Palladius. He is the Patrick who was connected
with Germanus. He may have been a disciple
of Martin of Tours, and studied at Lerins. He
may have been ordained by Amatorex. He may
have wandered about the Mediterranean islands.
* Vita Septima, in Colgan ; Joceline's St. Patrick.

SAINT PA TRICK. 83

He seems to have been at Emboria, wherever that
was, for it is mentioned in connection with his
name. He appears t<» have been urged by Ger-
iiianus to go to Ireland, and it was he who went
as a bishop, with the seal of Celestine on his com
mission. One account is that Saint Patrick was
sent with (Jermanus into Britain, in 429, to sup
press the Pelagian heresy; this is far more likely
to have been true of Palladius, for he was zealous
on that subject. The story of Patrick's repulse by
the Irish is clearly borrowed from Palladius.
shall find the one represented as following
in the foot-tep> of the other, landing on the same
coast and driven away by the same Hy Garchon.

There is but <»ne point where a fact seems to crop
out through the ma— of fables. It is where Saint
Patriek is sent to Ireland in his younger days,
and, as a priest or presbyter, begins his work
without having been at Rome, and without any
sort of commission from her bishop. It was not
necessary to have a permi-ion from that quarter.
Good men and ehun-he.-. and synods had the right
to send mi»ionaries wherever they chose, without
a word from "the holy lather.1' Kven lie did not
claim that all success depended upon him. He WM
not yet a full-blown pope. With all his faults,

84 SAINT PA TRICK.

Celestine was too good a bishop to assume such
high powers. u A ray of truth has here broken
out through clouds of fable, and no greater proof
can be desired that the Roman mission was a
modern addition to the facts of history." *

And yet it is assumed that St. Patrick was sent
forth from Rome, as her bishop, her legate, her
apostolic nuncio ! Hear Father Brenan : " Upon
the death of Palladius, Patrick received the regular
missionary powers from the sole divinely estab
lished source of spiritual jurisdiction on earth, the
head of the Church, at that time also Pope Celes
tine ;" and thus other Romish writers assert in
shorter words, from Fiacc's Scholiast down to Mon-
talembert. It is made the great point with them.
It lies at the basis of all the wonders done by " the
apostle of Ireland." Without it he is nothing in
their eyes. It has become deeply rooted in the
hearts of thousands of Irishmen. It has made
him their patron saint; they swear by his name,
pray to him, adore him, and regard him as the
guardian of the whole Irish race wherever they
may roam in other lands.

Moreover, this Roman mission is made the
central point in all the chronology of his life. All
*Todd'sSt. Patrick, p. 327.

SAINT PATRI CK. 85

other dates are conformed to it. If he was com
missioned by (Vie- tine as the successor of Pal-
ladius, it must have been in 432, for this Eoman
bishop died early in that year. If he was then
sixty years of age, he was born in 372. But what
of the other dates ? If he was thirty when he
went to German us, he must have found a poor
teacher of theology, for this man was a military
officer at that time, if not a heathen sportsman; he
was not a bishop earlier than 418. Did Patrick
study with him thirty years? When, then, did he
study with Martin of Tours, who died about 4<>L' '.'
The green. -i urave of the most learned man would
not be a lit place to study "church discipline."
IIi-<le:ith i- iixe«l about the year 494, giving him
the full age of one hundred and twenty-two years.
These are a few of the beauties of monkish arith-
metie. To fix hi- birth at 387 does not clear up
the difficulties. These dry dates show a plentiful
watering of tin- facts in the life <>f the missionarv.
\Va-Saint Pan-irk evoratRome? Perhap- he
was, but there i> no good evidence of it. Vet what
if ho were? Protestants now visit that city, and
inoM of them ennie away with their faith unim
paired ; Bomighi he. Ami the I ;.. me of the fifth
century was not what it heeame in the eighth; its

86 SAINT PATRICK

moon was only in the first quarter of decline and
gently waning into the crescent. Her power was
not the growth of one age ; it was the gradual
result of centuries of ambition. Even had Patrick
studied there (as some legends run), and been there
ordained, he might still have held none of Rome's
peculiar views. Indeed, we might grant that he
was sent forth, from that great centre of the empire,
to labour in Ireland, and yet not admit Rome to
be the mother of all the ancient churches nor the
head of Christendom. The question would not be
so very important if the Papists had not laid such
stress upon it. " The fact that missionaries were
sent out with the sanction of Rome no more proves
the modern papal claim to universal supremacy,
than the fact of a bishop being now sent into the
interior of Africa, with the sanction of Canterbury,
would prove the universal supremacy of the Primate
of England." *

Was Saint Patrick sent to Ireland with a com
mission from Celestine? The question is im
portant. Its answer will help to solve many diffi
culties. We state some of our reasons for rejecting
the story of the Roman mission :

1. It is based on the legends of which we have
*Todd's St. Patrick, p. 333, note.

SAINT PATRICK. 87

given a speeimen ; rather were these fables framed
to support it. They are of comparatively late
origin. J'li.-v were put forth at a time when some
show of foundation wa.- needed fur the pope's
power in 1 ivland.

2. It is not mentioned by the older writers.
Tin- is admitted by the most candid Roman
('atliolic hi.-torians, who base it only on tradi
tion.1 Could an appointment of so great mo
ment have been unknown to the chroniclers of
that age ? If known, would they have passed
it over in silence? Yet, -trance to relate, cen
turies seem to have rolled away before the im
portant rommi-sion with which Saint Patrick is
said to have been honoured by Saint ('destine was
mentioned by any British or foreign writer.f
Not ii word i> said about it by Sechnall, his sup-
jM-.-d nephew, hi- disciple and eulogist. He wrote
a poem in praise of the great man, but thrust upon
him no glory derived from an education on the Con
tinent or a sanction from Koine. He describe-,
him as "constant in the tear of <i«>d, immovable
in faith, one upon whom as a second Peter the
Church is built, and one who obtained from God

* Lanigan, Colgan, Carew.

Ireland, p. 74.

88 SAINT PATRICK.

his apostleship. The Lord chose him to teach
barbarous nations, and to fish with the nets of
doctrine." Fiacc's Hymn represents him as edu
cated on the Continent, but says nothing of the
Roman mission. If it were a fact, they certainly
would not have ignored such an honour, unless
they were too proud of the independence of the
Irish Church.*

Prosper of Aquitaine took into his special care
the praises of Celestine, for he was the bishop's
friend and counsellor. He advised the sending of
Palladius to "the Scots believing in Christ." Pal-
ladius went, stayed a few weeks, raised three
chapels, and ran away ; yet for this brief and ig
noble effort Celestine is named with high honour.
But Patrick went to Ireland, laboured there
twenty-three years before Prosper finished his
chronicle, and was blessed with the most signal
success. Was not this to the honour of Celestine,
who did not live to hear of it? Was he not the
spiritual father of the Irish Church ? Yet Prosper
never mentions Patrick. He neither tells us that
he was at Rome nor that he was sent out from
Rome. Why not? It must have been for the

* Todd's St. Patrick, p. 312. This silence occurs in five of
the seven lives in Colgan's Trias Thanmaturga.

SA INT PA TRICK. 89

reason that Celestine had no part in the glorious
work of redeeming the sons of Erin to the Lord.
Nor had Home. Patrick had gone forth from
another quarter, and Prosper did not care to relate
the deeds of an independent missionary.

liede maintain- the like silence. He enters
Patrick in his martyrology as a presbyter, which is
some proof of his existence. He mentions Ninian,
and Palladius, and Columba as eminent mission
aries ; why not Patrick? He either knew noth
ing of the mission to Ireland, or he cared not to
tell what he knew. He could hardly have been
ignorant. Was it because he could not hone-tly
say that Patrick was in Rome, and could not in
any \\.iv make him -npport the Roman pretensions
of the eighth century ? Bede had a strong love for
the Roman party. The deeds of its bishops and
poprs he gloried in telling. But if Patrick was
only a presbyter, an independent missionary, an
a.-soriate of the < 'uldrrs, a humble man who had
devoted him-df to the Iri.-h mi — ion by the com
mand of rin-M, he was not thought worthy of
mention.*

3. Patrick i- evidently OOofbondtd with Palla
dia-. Tin- we have >ln»wn as a condii-ion drawn

*Soame«, Lat. Ch. p. X): M- I.;iu. hlan, l-imly ( h. Scot. p. 97.

90 SAINT PATRICK.

from sifting the legends. "We infer," says Dr.
Todd, " that the whole story of Patrick's connec
tion with St. Germain and mission from Celestine
should be regarded as a fragment of the lost
history of Palladius, transferred to the second and
more celebrated Patrick, by those who undertook
to interpolate the authentic records of his life.
The object of these interpolates was evidently to
exalt their hero. They could not rest satisfied
with the simple and humble position in which his
own writings, his confession and his letter to Coro-
ticus had placed him. They could not concede to
Palladius the honour of a direct mission from
Rome, without claiming for Patrick a similar
honour. They could not be content that their own
Patrick should be regarded as an unlearned, a rude
uneducated man, even though he has so described
himself. The biography of Palladius, ' olio nomine
PatriciuSj supplied them with the means of effect
ing their object, and gave to the interpolated story
the appearance of ancient support." Thus we may
account for what is related of Patrick's education
on the Continent, his monastic tonsure, his ordina
tion by Amator, his consecration by Celestine, his
Roman mission and his first failure in Ireland.
They belong to the first Patrick. " Xo ancient or

SAINT PATRICK. 91

trustworthy authority has countenanced these
BMbta in reference to the second Patrick."*

Tli is patchwork makes a chaos of chronology,
a> il' the elates were thrown into a box, shaken up,
and drawn out by one wli an- so bandaged

that lie cannot M6 tin- iacts of history. We shall
present, in the next chapter, a chronology that will
better accord with the facts of Saint Patrick's life;
but it will set at naught all theories of the Romi.-h
mi— ion.

4. The reception and success of Saint Patrick
argue against the Roman mission. If we und« r
stand that the Irish people hated civil Rome, and
were suspi<-i«.u- of r«vlr>iastical Koine, all will be
clear. Palladiu- was rejected because he came to
place a new y.»kc upon the Irish Christians, and
be their chief bi.-lmp, teaching them new usages
and ruling in a new way.f Patrick went with no
Roman views or corn ink-ion, no aim to lord it
over God's heritage, no design but to j»na<h
Christ and BttVG >inm -rs ; and he succeeded. He
bore the true cross, and not the crosier. View
him as a Romish prelate, and there is confusion;
regard him as an earnest Christian missionary,

* Soniin-s I .at. <'h. p. 50.

f ToddV St. Pairirk. pp. Ml, :;:;L(. ,-/ pauim.

92 SAINT PATRICK.

going forth from North Britain, and all is clear.
Cut him loose from the meshes of Rome, and the
burden of continental legends rolls away. He
then stands forth a devoted minister of Christ,
with a tongue that can gain the Irish ear and a
soul that can win the Irish heart.

5. Saint Patrick claimed to have gone to Ireland
of his own accord. None compelled him. He
went " bound in the spirit/7 and with no call but
that of the Lord. To show this fact he refers to
his dreams. He had the sanction of his God and
of his own conscience ; he needed none from Rome.

6. There are intimations that he was ordained
in Britain for the work. Certain "respectable
clergymen" at first opposed his consecration, on
acccount of an old fault, committed thirty years
before in his youth. We have seen that some
of the legends represent him as ordained in Gaul,
without any connection with Rome. Such accounts
would hardly be mere inventions of the monks.

7. There is not one word in his own writings
about an education on the Continent, or a Roman
mission, or a friendship with Martin of Tours,
Germanus or Celestine. Why not? He was
writing in his old age, when Rome was rising
toward the papacy, and receiving more and more

SAINT PATRICK. 93

honour on the Continent. He had I een charged
with pre.-umption in liav ing undertaken such a work
a- the conversion of the Iri-h, rude and unlearned
as he was, and on his <>\vn authority. What a
chance now for him to IM..-IM a little of his former
advantages, and tell oi' his education abroad and
of his eummi — ion from Rome! This would have
M-ttled the <|iie.Mion of his right to preach with
th'»-r who favoured the Roman pretensions. But
In - iid nothing <>f the kind. We infer, then, that
lie had never held any connection with Rome, or
t'lat the people had prejudices in that direction
which he did not \\i-h to rouse. They may have
stood linnlv on the ground of their independence.
They may have eared little lor Roman education,
and less 11 .r li<>man commissions. And that after
Saint Patrick had been long with them! On such
matter, prol.ahlv. he and they were agreed.

Kven if the <'onfe— inn !„• :l fir^'ry, this argu
ment will hold ^..nd. For its author, assuming
the n;ini, Pati-ieU, evidently wn.t<- with n«»

n t«. | n»p up the theory of a limnan mi — inn
or a Continental education. lie knew not their
value, or lie \\as m>t making up a hi-lorv of events
that never oe.-niTed. Ilrsn fully threw himself
hack into Saint Patri'-k'- time- and

94 SAINT PATRICK.

that he told only the truth. But here is a proof
that the Confession is not a forgery. It is not
stuffed with lying legends. Its very face proclaims
that it was written by a man of truth, and such a
man would not pen a " pious fraud." It served as
a basis for the later manufacturers; they used the
good material as they pleased. It was gold for
their alloys. But they cared not to multiply copies
of it, and few now remain in the original form.
It was cast into the shade, for it could not serve
the purposes of the Roman Church.*

8. We shall find that the Irish Church was not
conformed to the Roman during several centuries
after Saint Patrick's death. " If Patrick came to
Ireland as a deputy from Rome, it might naturally
be expected that in the Irish Church a certain sense
of dependence would always have been preserved
toward the mother Church of Rome. But we find,
on the contrary, in the Irish Church afterward, a
spirit of church freedom similar to that shown by
the ancient British Church, which struggled against
the yoke of Roman ordinances. . . . This goes
to prove that the origin of this Church was inde
pendent of Rome." f To this we shall again recur

* Todd's St. Patrick, p. 387.
f Neander, Ch. Hist., p. 123.

/ A / I' A TRICK. 95

when we consider whether Saint Patrick held any
oilieial connection with Rome, in his oversight of
the Church to which lie <ravc his toils. Some pre-
lat i>ts think that he eoniniitted errors in not forming
dioceses, and placing " bishops" over them. His
bishops were pa.-tor>, < a. h having charge of a par
ticular church. >% 'I'he very errors into which he
fell" are eited as evidence that he did not hold his
appointment i'roin Koine.*

* The Church of St. Patrick, by Rev. W. G. Todd, London,
1844, p. 30.

CHAPTER VI.

AMONG THE DATES.

^FTER clearing away the rank growth of
/•*,£ legends from the path of Saint Patrick, we
may now follow the truck of his life. It is
still like an old Indian trail through the
dark woods ; many of the tree* once " blazed"
have fallen, and the footprints have become dim.
But here is an ancient landmark, there an outlying
fact, and with cautious step we undertake to follow
him from the home of his parents 0:1 the Clyde.
There we left him, lately returned from his cap
tivity.

It is expressly stated in the Irish version of
Nermius* that Patrick was a slave with Milchu
when Palladius was sent to Ireland. If this be
true, he was a slave in the year 431. If that was
the first year of his bondage, he was then sixteen ;
if the last, he was about twenty-two, for these are
admitted to be the dates of his capture and his

*Nennius, abbot of Bangor, wrote about A.D. 688. — Cave,
Scrip. Hint. Lit. Sac. vii. 62'); TodtTs St. Patrick, p. 394.
96

I i /.vy rATRlCK. 97

release. This would give the year 409-415 as the
period of his birth. As the Romanists arc cap -r
to link him with Palladius, we might assume that
both of them left Ireland the same year. We see
no way of bringing them together unless we sup
pose that the -hip which bore the bi-lmp northward
was the very MIMIC that took up the fugitive young
man of t wenty-two. Both are said to have had
rough sailing, and a wreck on the Scottish coast
might have separated them for ever. Nor can we
imagine how Celestine heard of Patrick, or sent
him to Ireland, unless the bishop forwarded by
post a report of tin /eal shown by the young Briton
on shipboard. Then comes the commission.
Patrick gets it after one of his dreams, and with
all speed departs to the children calling to him
liom the dark forests of Erin. We submit this
theory as quite equal to any other which puts into
the hand- of Patrick a parchment sealed by the
dyinji ( Vle-tine.

\\ - take the d;t;c of Nennius as nothing more
thai) a dose goess ai the truth. lie had no idea
of the Roman mi — ion. Let us take other data.
1-Yoiu some of the additions to the Confession we
learn that Patrick had eommiited a limit, we know
not what, when fifteen year- <,f ap'. Thirty years

98 SAINT PATRICK.

afterward he was about to be fully ordained to the
work of the ministry. His friends opposed his
going. One of them, to whom he had confessed
the old forgiven fault, brought it forward as an ob
jection. He was overruled. This would make
Patrick forty-five years of age at his ordination.

Now if we can find the date of this event, we
may clear up various difficulties. Let us assume
that he sought ordination to qualify him more
fully for the work in Ireland. When did he go
thither? A curious Irish tract says that the battle
of Ocha happened exactly forty-three years after
the coming of Patrick to Ireland. In this fray
Oilioll Molt was slain. The annals of Ulster fix
it at 482-483. This would give 440 as about the
date of Patrick's mission.

By comparing Tirechan with Keating we have
these dates : King Laogaire died in 474. He had
reigned after the coming of Patrick thirty-two
years. This gives the year 442 as the date of the
mission.

An Irish bard and historian of the eleventh cen
tury* says that Pope Gregory died one hundred and
sixty-two years after Patrick's coming. Gregory

* Gilla Csemhain, quoted more fully in Todd's St. Patrick, p.
396.

SA INT PA TRICK. 99

died in (>04. Tin- uives 442 as the year of the
mis-i.m. Dr. Todd fiirnMie- other dates, all drawn
from Sources independent of each oilier, and vary
ing little Iroiii those which we have quoted from
his pane-. Let the above suffice; we are not writ
ing an arithmetic. We have good grounds for a~-
suming that about 442 was the date of his mission
to Ireland, that he was then forty-five years of
age, and that 397 was the year of his birth.

Here then are twenty-three years which he had
at hi- disposal after his return from captivity — a
vei-v considerable number {'or ,-tndy and lor the
trial of hi- o-ilts as a preacher. But we may sup
pose the time well employed. We are not driven
to hide him in a mona-terv. There are a few traces
of active labour- ; they are mere traditions, but
they accord with the circumstances of hi- life, and
help to fill up the picture of his times.

When- did this young Briton study? Not
surely 'at Tours with Saint Martin, for, if our
dates be correct, the one was an infant when tin-
Other was lying in his grave. It may have been
at some Culdee cell or college, where the Bible
was the chief classic, and students were hardly
trained to write Latin letters with the elegance of
Cicero. He never became a scholar. His know-

100 SAINT PATRICK.

ledge of Latin was limited. In later years he
spoke of himself as a man who "was afraid to
write in the language of the civilized world, be
cause he had not read like others, who had been
devoted to sacred learning from their infancy, and
his speech had been changed to another tongue."
He had preached and prayed in the language of
the Irish people. Very modestly he acknowledged
himself to be " rustic, unlearned," brought up in
the country as an uneducated man. But he seems
to have been an Apollos mighty in the Scriptures,
and able to move his illiterate hearers by the
power of his eloquence. We infer therefore that
his education was scriptural rather than classical.
It was like that of Niniaii, who had found his
views of Bible truth quite different from those
taught at Rome.

"Were there any ties between Patrick and Ger-
manus of Auxerre? It is not easy to completely
sever their names. They seem to have clasped
hands, and that on British soil. This view is
favoured by traditions not in the interest of the
Romish monks. It is worthy of notice that while
the one was thinking of going to Ireland as a mis
sionary, the other was coming to Britain as the
champion of the true faith. The Pelagians were

SA INT PA TRICK. 101

bu-y in teaching the Britons that sin had not
ivn<lnv<l man a helple-s sinner, and that by his
good works lie iniijit save liinisclf. There were
many ('hri-tians who would not accept tin-t
errors, and yet could not ably defend the truth.
They a-ked the churches of Gaul to send them
help. At a synod held in 429 Germanus \va.^
chosen to vi-it Britain. The armour of a spiritual
warrior was upon him, but perhaps he had learned
from the ureat Augustine that good word, " Slay
the errors, but love the erring.'' With him went
Lupus, afterward the bishop of Troyes, who \\.i-
called " the prince of (Jallicau prelates, the rule of
manner-, the pillar of virtue, the friend of Clod,
the intercessor l'«>r men with Heaven." There is
no good ancient evidence that they took a commi--
sion from "Pope Celestine," yet he may have
volunteered to -rant them his blessing. They
CTOSSed the < 'hanm-l, ;md probably went up through
Cornwall, visited (Ila-tmibury, and entered the
valley- of Wale-, preaching aloit-- the road- and
in the fields. They seemed to carry evcrvt hin-j
before them. Tin- humble ('hri-tian- \\.iv de-
liLrhted ; the hau'_rhtv errori-t-, -o fond of <j\\
-trench to the pride of man, be-an to make their

boasts.

102 SAINT PATRICK.

A great debate was to come off at Verulam.
Bede describes the scene in his lively style. He
says that the champions of heresy came in gorgeous
robes, while those of the truth appeared plainly
dressed and diffident. " An immense multitude
was assembled, with their wives and children. On
the one side was divine faith ; on the other, human
presumption. On the one side, piety ; on the other,
pride. On the one side, Pelagius [by his repre
sentatives] ; on the other, Christ. . . . Germanus
and Lupus permitted their adversaries to speak
first, who occupied a long time and filled the ear
with empty sounds. Then the venerable prelates
poured forth the torrent of their apostolic and evan
gelical eloquence. Their speeches were filled with
Scripture sentences. . . . The Pelagian party, not
being able to answer, confessed their errors. The
people, who were judges, could scarcely be re
strained from acts of violence, but signified their
judgment by their acclamations." *

Germanus remained for some time in Britain.
Among the wonders related of him is his part in a
battle. The Scots and Picts were coming down
upon the Britons. The fray bade fair to be fierce.
Germanus is said to have baptized many of the
*Bede, Eccl. Hist. libi. cap. 17.

SAINT PATRICK. 103

British soldier-, and then acted quite as a general,
as he well knew how to do. He probably knew
the value of tremendous shouting. The fight
began; he shouted lidllclujah three times; the
word ran along the line; the whole army took it
up, and the enemy took fr i 11 h t , and retreated in the
greatest disorder." The -p..i in Wale- when- this
affair is -nppo-ed to have occurred is called the
Field of Garmon, the \Vel.-h name of Germanu.-.
Several Welsh churches . bear his name. Such
events were likely to draw the attention oi' yonn^
Patrick.

To find Patrick in Wales need not surpri-e n-.
Between tin people of the two countries there were
ties of lan-naur, and, probably, of religion. Thither
the Highlanders were quite likely to drive many
familie- from the land- of the Clyde. One tradi
tion i-, that Patrick had a n-tn-at and a cell in the
Yalli- Ko-ina. which -ome have claimed as hi-
birth-place. It i- -aid, al-n, that he preached in
,id Cornwall, with whose ( Vh ic -p. .eh he
mi-lit have Ix-cn familiar. 1 f t hi- were true, lie
\vi.uld -eareely fail |,, -JM-IK! -oine time at (ilaston-
l.ury, which ha- been called the cradl-- of llriti.-h
( 'hri-tianity, k4 the tir.-t in'onnd of (iod, the
* I;. MM. lil, i ,-.-,,,. 20.

104 SAINT PATRICK.

ground of the saints in England ; the rise and
fountain of all religion in England." It was called
the holy isle of Avalon. Its church claimed
descent from the churches of Asia Minor. One
tradition is, that Patrick studied there for thirty
years ; another, that he died there and was buried.
His name was loved in these regions, and given to
several churches. In later days the Irish Chris
tians looked with reverence toward Glastonbury,
and thither made their pilgrimages. It is possible
that Germanus met Patrick at some of these points
before returning to Gaul. They may have eaten
together some of the famous apples of Avalon.*

William of Malinsbury says : "When Germanus
was meditating a return into his native country, he
formed an intimate acquaintance with Patrick,
whom he sent after some years to the Irish as a
preacher, at the bidding of Celestine." The latter
part of this sentence we do not believe ; the " some
years" reveal the mistake. Celestine had but a
few months to live. But the " intimate acquain
tance" was very possible. Patrick may have
learned much from the man of heroic zeal, who
caused the churches to be thronged, and preached
in the open fields, along the highways, and wher-
* Camden, Britannia, Col. 63.

SAINT PATRICK. 105

ever he could make war against the heresies of
Pelagius. They may have talked together of
Ireland, whose rulers were deluded by the bards
and priests of Druid ism.

There are traces of other labours. "This Si.
Patrick did not neglect his native country of
North Britain, but was very useful and assistant
to the other instruments of that good work, in
bringing tin- people into and confirming them more
and more in the Christian faith."* Such is the
statement of a writer in the early part of the
eighteenth century, when referring to en-tain tradi
tions of Scotland, where the name of Patrick some
times appears in towns and churches.

There is no good proof that Patrick ever set foot
out of the British Isles, and yet he may have
crossed the Channel and laboured in Armorica.
One story is, that he there passed three or four
years as a pastor, under the direction of ( J< •nnanus.f
A Celtic Briton would not have been an <>nt in-
stranger in that country of Celts, who had such a
readiness to accept the gospel. It also has
treasured his name and claimed hi- birth. He
may have helped to start a movement which be-

• \n. < i, Scot in S|K,ttU\v(x,(l». Mixvllany.
t Lai : ' i :«i.

106 SAINT PATRICK.

came wonderful after his departure, and continued
for almost a century. The Saxons were devouring
Britain and driving away her Christian people.
"To escape from their bloody yoke, an army of
British monks, guiding an entire tribe of men and
women, freemen and slaves, embarked in vessels
not made of wood, but of skins sewn together, sing
ing, or rather howling, under their full sails, the
lamentations of the Psalmist, and came to seek an
asylum in Armorica. . . . This emigration lasted
more than a century, and threw a new but equally
Celtic population into that part of Gaul which
Roman taxation and barbarian invasion had in
jured least, and where the ancient Celtic worship
had retained most vitality. With the exception
of three or four episcopal cities, almost all the
Armorican peninsula was still pagan in the sixth
century. All the symbols and rites, the myths
and arcanas of paganism seemed to be concentrated
in that wild and misty country." (Yet some
writers picture it as the blessed Eden that, in 372,
gave Saint Patrick to the world.) The British
missionaries " came to ask shelter of their breth
ren, issued from the same race and speaking the
same language. They undertook to pay for the
hospitality they received by the gift of a true

SAINT PATRICK. 107

faith, and they succeeded. They gave their name
and wor.-hip to their new country. . . . Fifty
years after their appearance the Gospel reigned in
peniiiHiIa."* If Patrick did not aid in it, he
nniM have known of the movement when toiling
among another Celtic people.

A ray of truth may have gleamed upon Probus
when lie >aid that Patrick began his work in
Ireland as a young man and " a priest." In one
of the snppo-cd addition* t<> the Confession he is
made to say to certain Irish Christians, "You
know, and God knoweth, how I walked among
you from my youth.*' This may mean that he
ULNIM \\\< mini>try among them before he was
ordained to the office of "a bishop," whatever that
was. He may have laboured in the southern part
of the inland, where the little bands of Christians
were most numerous. Wars among the tribes
may have hindered him from great efforts which
the chroniclen would notice. Some of them, how-

«,f the- W«M. ii. ,,. 2t>0, et teg.; also
Gilda> .ui.1 < m.ili-ii. Tin- latter says "From that time tin-
Armuriri, 1,,-in^ .-uUm-d hy little and littlt-, tin- name of
r.iitains grew so great in thin new country that tlu- whole
body ot' inlialiitaiit- l>«-^an !<• fall umlrr it, and tht- tract to be
called Britanniea America." Al«o lyisraeli's Amenities of
J.itrratnrr, ii. 2.

108 SAINT PATRICK.

ever, dated his arrival about the year 436. Often
he may have crossed and recrossed the Irish
Channel. He may have tasted the dangers of
labouring in such a country. Wishing to have
full power to organize churches and ordain
ministers, he may have applied for ordination in
Britain. Then came the opposition of his rela
tives and friends.

" Why does this man rush into danger among
the heathen, who know not the Lord ?" they said
one to another. " That fault in his youth I"
whispered a confidant. But he persevered. Noth
ing could turn him aside — not their offers of
wealth, not their tears. He was ready to leave all
and follow Christ. " Many gifts were offered me
with tears, if I would remain/' he tells us. " I
was forced to offend my relations and many of my
well-wishers. But with God's guidance I did not
yield to them at all, not by my own power, for it
was God who triumphed in me. He did not
hinder me from my labour, which I had dedicated
to my Lord Christ. I felt no small power from
him, and my faith was proved before God and
men. Wherefore I boldly say that my conscience
reproves me not here nor hereafter."

And yet so vigorous a man may have felt young

SAINT PATRICK.

at forty-five, or he would so appear to himself when
over ninety, and then looking back to the time
when lie fully entered upon his mission. In the prime
of life he set foot on the shores of Erin as a mis
sionary. That he went first to the tribes of
Lei nster, landed at Inbher Dea, on the Wicklow
coast, made a tew converts, roused the wrath of the
II v (iarchon, yielded tin; ground, took ship again,
and -ailed northward, is extremely doubtful. It
looks too much like a story borrowed from the. ad
ventures of Palladius. "It is not reasonable to
suppose that both missionaries should have done
• • \aetly the same things ; that both should land at
the Mime place, both be, driven off by the same
ehiettain, and both turn to the north of the island;
with thi- difl'erenee only, that Palladius is driven
ia< -cording to some accounts) by a storm round the
iioi i IK in «,ast of Scotland to the region of tin
Piet-, and Patrick landed safely in Dalaradia,
when- hi- mini-try is at once successful. Patrick,
we may rcadilv believe, went at once to I 1-ter, to
vi-it the j.laee with which he was formerly
acquainted, and where he expected to bt: well
ived." ; T he oldest authorities have nothing
of the Wick low ,-tory.

*Todd's St. Patrick, p. 339, sliyhtiy wndemed.

CHAPTER VII.

FIRST LABOURS OF PATRICK.

N Irish herdsman is said to have kept the
flocks of his master Dichu near the lower
end of the Strangford Lough. One day he
strolled down toward the shore, and saw a
boat put into a little cove, as if there was some
secret business on hand. Out of it stepped a small
party of men, who had been wearied in toiling
with the waves. Carefully stowing away their
luggage, they hid their boat among the rushes, and
then set forth to explore the country. A man of
about forty-five years appeared to be the chief of
the party.

" Robbers," thought the herdsman. " Pirates
from the land of the Picts !" They seemed to be
gazing over the neighborhood, as if -spying out the
land, and about to choose some house to plunder
or fall upon some unguarded flock. They must
have been hungry enough, if they had been for three
days upon a barren isle, since called Inis Patrick,
just off the Dublin coast. One story is, that they

no

SA I.\T /'.I THICK. HI

had sought t«> make them a home on its sands,
where no man dwelt, and famine threatened their
lives. Not even a fish would enter their nets, and
the water-fowl took wing. The choice of such an
island would indicate that they were Culdees, seek
ing tin- -pot for a cell. "The practice of taking
pOBeeasiot) of -ecluded inlands continued to charac-
tcri/c the ('nldee -y-tem, and was carried by the
missionari.-, -rut forth from time to time, whither-
BT they went."* But the herdsman knew not
the habit- of ( 'uldee-, and he ran as fast as his feet
could take him from the invader.-. kl Pirate-" was
the burden of every l.reath.

Now his ma-tcr, Dichn, had a choice home, and
he happened to be in at the time. He wa- a ^n-at
man in tho-r part-, having the blood of an ancient
kin_r in hi- veins, and a goodly array of clan-mei:
on hi- e-tate-. Hi~ i-iche- would allbnl iine spoils
for a tronp ..f marauders. The report of hi- ah
breathle— lienUmaii roused his fear.-, his wrath
and his murage. He .-ounded the alarm. The
clan-men gathered at his rail. He took his sword
and they their pike-. All marched ii.rth eager for
the fray. They divw nearer to the invad.

The chiefiain wa.- -truck tir-t, not with a >k holv

MrL:im-hlaii, |-I:irly Scut. Ch. p. 182.

112 SA I.\T PA THICK.

staff," but with the noble bearing and frank,
friendly countenance of the leader of the strange
party. He had not seen a more winning face for
many a day. The foot of heaven's messenger
seems never before to have pressed his soil. He
knew not Scripture enough to ask, " Comest thou
peaceably ?" It would not have cleared up the
mystery for the leader to say, " I am Patrick, a
missionary. In the name of the living God I come
to declare to you the glad tidings of salvation.
My greeting is the angel's song, ' Peace on earth,
good-will to men.7 " For this chieftain was a
heathen. He had heard of no Druid's prophecy,*
beginning thus :

" He comes, he comes with shaven crown,
From off' the storm-tossed sea."

The sword was dropped. The warrior's face
grew mild. The descendant of kings talked with
the man of God. A finger pointed to the house,
and a welcome was given to Patrick and his com
panions. It was not " a multitude of holy bishops,
presbyters, deacons, exorcists, readers, door-keepers,
and students," as some would have us believe. As
for "some Gauls" and certain priests, who had

* The legend of such a prophecy by a pagan Druid was the
manufacture of a papal monk long after the event.

9J / \ T PATRK h 113

] aeked up their n.lxs on the hanks of the Tiber,
our eyes do not perceive them. Rather were they
such assistant.- a> a mi.— iouary would be likely to
take with him to a heathen land. They went to
the hoii-.-; ho-pitality opened the \vav for the
gospel. Patrick preached, the chieftain listened
and believed in Christ. He was afterward bap
tized, and all his family. He was " the first of the
Scots" who confessed the faith under the preach
ing of Patrick.

We may suppose that friends and neighbours
were urged to come and listen to the good news
which tin Bto&agf* had to tell; that the house be
came crowded, and that the missionary led them to
the barn on the lands of the chieftain. There the
Word Lr,v\\ and helicver> multiplied. On,- day
the chieftain ii-lt his heart touched with gratitude
i" God, "I give you the land on which we are
•teading,* -aid he to the preacher. "In place of
thi> bam I. -i a church be built."

" If shall I >e done," we hear Patrick reply, "and
may God's house be your habitation."

"I only ask," said Dicliu, "that th.« l.-n-th of
the church shall not be from east to west, but
fmni north to >outh."

"It >hall thu.- Hand," answered the missionary,

114 SAINT PATRICK.

for he did not see any virtue in having a church
fronting toward the east, as was the general cus
tom in Oriental lands. What would the Lord
care for that? It was a mere trifle. The farther
account is : " Then Patrick erected in that place
the transverse church, which is called even to the
present day, Sabhal Patraic, or Patrick's Barn."
The place is now called Sabhal, or Saul, and is
about two miles from Downpatrick. It appears
that other churches were built after this model, ex
tending from north to south.* Thus was estab
lished a base of operations.

The story is, that Patrick was concerned for
Milchu, his former master, from whom he had run
away without being redeemed by money. He set
set forth on foot to visit him. He went in the very
face of danger, uto offer to his former master a
double ransom — an earthly one in money and
worldly goods, and a spiritual one — by making
known to him the Christian faith and the gospel
way of salvation." Going northward into Antrim,
he reached the top of a hill, where he stood gazing
upon the scene of his exposures to the rains and
snows of his vigils, his prayers and his dreams.

* Bingham's Eccl. Antiq. bk. viii. 3. Usser ad Seldenum,
Epist. 51.

SA INT PA TRICK. 115

What emotions must have filled his heart! By
that rock he once had his Bethel. By that brook
lie had wreMled with find, and had his Peniel.
( 'nder yonder oak he had songs and visions of the
niirht. I>elmv him Mo<>d the house of his former
master, who had used him so roughly twenty-three
years before. What a joyful mission to enter those
doors and tell the -lad tidings of a Saviour!
But, lo! that house is seen to be. in flames, i!' we
may credit the legend. The tyrant has heard of
coniii,-. 1 1,. i> troubled. An evil spirit
him. He determines not to meet the
mi — ionary. He sets fire to the house, and easts
himself into the flames, choo>in^ {() perish rather
than to become the di-eiple of his former slave.
1'atricU MM it, and for three hours weeps in com-
pa— ion. lint he next is represented aa uttering
hi- curse upon the family of the suicide, and de
claring that none of Mildm's sons shall ever .-it
upon hi-, pretty throne; they shall be slaves for
ever!

Thus had Patrick cursed the rivers that would
yield him no fish, according to the fables of the
monks. "Let us hope," says Dr. Todd, "that
these examples of vengeance, so common in his
story, represent only the mind of the ecclesiastics

116 SAINT PATRICK.

of a later age, and that his biographers knew not
the spirit he was of."*

If there be any truth at all in the account of
the visit to his former master, it is probable that
Patrick failed in his efforts. He could not con
vince the tyrant that Christ was a Saviour.
Baffled and repelled, he left him in his sins.
Those sins were the flames into which he cast him
self. But the monks could not bear to have their
hero defeated, and they portrayed the self-destruc
tion of his former master. One account is that
some of the cruel prince's family were afterward
converted to the faith.

Again we find the missionary at Sabhal, in what
is now the barony of Secale. There he preaches
for many days, going about in the neigbourhood,
teaching all who will give heed to his words.
" The faith began to spread." It was not by out
ward display that the hearts of the people were
gained ; not by exhibiting relics, not by holding
up a crucifix with an image upon it, nor by the
mumbling of a Latin mass ; but by the preaching
of God's holy word in the language of the natives.
He had learned their speech while a slave, if in
deed it had not been to him as a mother tongue.
* Todd's St. Patrick, p. 406.

SAINT PATRICK. 117

He may have called thorn around him at the beat
of a drum, and IK- pointed them to the true cross
of Calvary. Having formed little bands of dis
ciples and placed teachers o\er them, he planned
other missionary journeys.

It seems to have !>«-n Patrick's policy to bring
the rulers of the land first to the faith. Eleven
centuries after him the Reformers acted somewhat
upon this principle: Luther sought to gain the
Saxon prince- ; ( alvin presented to Francis I. one
<>f the noblest letters ever written, and before other
kin-- he laid hi- -iniplc Confession of Faith. The
Jri-h chieftains and kings had great power over
their tribes in the fifth century. The men of
influence were gather.. 1 at their courts. To win
them was a great point, for "kings might become
niir-in--iathers, and queens nursing-mothers" to
the infant ( 'linrch.

Tarah WM hefoiv the mind of Saint Patrick.

Thither he mad <:<> and tin re preach rim.-t. It

Was the chief centre of pn\v«T. There \\riv
.gathered the kin--, prince-, nol.lcs and warrior-.
There wre he], | the national conventions e\
three years. The -npreine monarch of Ireland was
• ire, who had rei-ned |,,lt ,)1IV<, or f;lUr years
the coming of Patrick. II, was ahmit t.i

118 SAINT PATRICK.

summon the great convention to meet him at
Tarah. It was the parliament of that ancient day,
according to an old Irish poet :

" The learned Ollara Fodla first ordained
The great assembly, where the nobles met,
And priests, and poets, and philosophers,
To make new laws, and to correct the old,
And to advance the honour of his country."

Patrick resolved to attend this convention.
Taking his boat, he and his companions sailed
down the coast and entered the mouth of the river
Boyne. Thence they took their way on foot toward
the place where now stands the town of Slane.
Coming one evening to the house of a nobleman
named Sechnen, they were received with generous
hospitality. The guests sang, prayed, read the
Scriptures and spake of the errand on which Jesu^
Christ came into the world. The host let the
truth sink down into his ears and reach his heart.
He believed and was baptized. It was very com
mon in those days for missionaries to baptize
persons within a few hours of their conversion.
Thus did the apostles, but in their case the believers
generally had some knowledge of the Scriptures
beforehand, as in the case of the believers at Pen
tecost, the Ethiopian officer," and probably the

8A INT PA TRICK. 119

centurion at Ososarea. This custom, however, in
later days led to baptism upon a very slight evi
dence of true faith. It often secured only a nominal
Christianity.

In this family of rank was a young man of
gentle nature, attractive and impressible. The
looks and words of the chief stranger won his
heart; Patrick also was charmed with him. He
determined to be a disciple and follow the mis
sionary wherever he went. His parents and friends
tried to divert him from such a purpose. They set
forth the dangers and the toils of such a life as In-
must have before him. But none of these thin--
moved him. He left his home to be a missionary —
the first, it seems, of the natives who was reared
for the ministry. He could not be separated from
I'atriek, keeping close to him for years amid all
hi- dangers and sufferings. We know not his
native name, but for his gentleness he was called
Px'iiiiiims, or liinen. God had given him the power

"iig, and lie n-ed it for good. II the

prai-cs of the Lord before large assemblies, to whom
I'atrirk preached. Thus he rendered great aid to
tin- nood cause. lie w:i- tin- Asaph of the move
ment.

I'atri'l: ha-tened onward, and pitched his tent

120 SAINT PATRICK.

on a hill quite near to Tarah. It may have been
the time of Easter, and he may have kept it accord
ing to the general custom of the fifth century. The
practice of setting apart certain days for worship,
in memory of great events in the life of our Lord,
grew up quite early in the Church. It sprang
from a good intention. But it soon became a form
and a device of men. Instead of keeping every
Sabbath in memory of Christ's resurrection, they
observed one day in the year, and called it Easter.
No such custom is taught in the New Testament.
The " holy day" has become a holiday with most
of those who pay any regard to it. In the time of
Patrick it was held more sacred. It became a
stirring question in the Irish Church on what day
it should be kept. The Latin Christians held to
one day, and the Greek Christians another. We
have little doubt that Patrick kept Easter in the
Greek manner (if he kept it at all), for thus did
the Irish Church in later centuries. But we are
far from being sure that he went to Tarah at
Easter-tide, and that his " paschal fire" on the hill
drew the attention of the king and threw the whole
court into commotion.

Romish biographers make this a strong point
for their dates in the life of St. Patrick. They as-

SAINT PATRICK. 121

sume that the Feast of Tarah was celebrated at
the vernal equinox. In 433 this occurred on the
26th of March. This they take as the Easter of
that year. They also assume that Patrick kept his
first Easter in Ireland that very year. According
to their story he must have done a great deal of
sailing, foot- travel ling and open-air preaching
during the winter months. But the year 441
would better agree with their own argument, drawn
from the movements of the sun. Also it seems that
the feast of Tarah came off in May, for Bel tine's
day is still fixed at that time among the Irish and
the Scott \A i Hiuhlamh TS. Some ancient author
ities, however, fix the convention of Tarah about
the first of November, a time >till further from the
Christian Easter. Moreover, there is some evidence
that Saint Patrick was not at Tarah for several
years after his arrival in Ireland.* Indeed we
should not be guilty of very great incredulity if
we doubted whether In- was ever there at all when
such a convention wa> held. The proof, to say the
lea>l <.f it, i- l.y no mean- ••..m-lu-ive.

There was a va.-t work hef.re the missionary.
A heathen religion miiM he overthrown, one of
the most powerful and interesting nftlu' ancient
*Todd'a E 420.

122 SAINT PATRICK.

systems of errors. We must therefore give a little
attention to the Druids, their customs, their super
stitions, their poets, their priests and their influence
over botli rulers and people.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE DRUIDS.

Through untold ages past there stood
A deep, wild, sacred, awful wood :
Ite interwoven boughs had made
A cheerless, chilly, silent shade:
There, underneath the gloomy trees,
Were oft performed the mysteries
Of barbarous priests, who thought that God
Loved to look down upon the sod
Wlu-n- t-v.-ry l.-;if wa* deeply stained
With blood from human victims drained.

LUCAN, iii. 399.

PON the larger branches of old oaks grew
the mistletoe. It was a shrub fixing its roots
£ into the wood of the tree, and there it ap
peared dark and green through all the
winter, with white berries upon it. It is often seen
in forests alon^ our We-tern rivers. I have seen
one specimen upon a white ..;ik a- tar to the north
as the southern -hon •- of Lake Michigan. The
mistletoe wa- ln-M MCtied 1 v the heathens of
Northern Europe. The shade of the oak on which

123

124 SAINT PATRICK.

it grew was their place of worship. Hence, pro
bably, the name Druids, or the men of the oaks.

We imagine ourselves in Ireland, far back, four
teen centuries ago. We stand upon a hill with a
village in front of us, just on the border of a thick,
wild forest. It is one of the first evenings in May.
Out of some cabins and cells we see strange-looking
men creeping. They walk about very solemnly,
and whisper something which to us is very
mysterious. They are venerable long-beards and
magicians. Some of them wear coats of many
colours, and a string of serpent's eggs about their
necks. Others have a white scarf thrown over
their shoulders, bracelets on their arms and long
white rods in their hands. They gaze at the stars,
and decide that it is the proper time for their sacred
rites. The moon is just six days old. They gather
about their chief, but we prefer not to be in their
crowd.

In solemn procession they march into the dark,
gloomy woods. Under an ancient oak they halt
and engage in a strange mummery. One of their
priests climbs the oak, and with the golden knife
cuts away the wondrous mistletoe. Carefully he
throws it down upon a white cloth, and they quite
adore it. Every leaf is a treasure. They think it

SAINT PATRICK. 125

ha- power to charm away evil spiiits and keep
them in health.

But this is not all. They have led with them
two white bullocks for sacrifice. They now put a
wreath of oak leaves upon their horns, and pre
pare for solemn rites. The golden knife i<
plunged into the necks of these victims, which
fall quivering in the pan-- of death. The fires
are kindled. Skilful hands make all the arrange
ments for a feast.* We will not suppose ourselv< -
to be gazing upon a more horrid sight, for the
Druids are rcpiv-entrd as leading into the gloomy
woods some slave, or prisoner of war, or the child
of some pea-ant, and there nfli-rinu; a human .-aeri-
fice. At .-ix-h time- the .-iii^-in^ priests are said to
have r ;m d and howled and beat their drums to
drown the cries of the suffering martyrs. Cse.-ar
lelN n- that tin- I >ruid- <>!' (Jaul made hn-r l>a
of osier, in the shape of a man, filled them with
human beings, and set the vast mass on fire.f
Dfl hop,- thai tin- ancient Iri-h were not SO
barbarous.

Such wor-hip remind- n- nl' the horrid rites of
sacrifice to Baal and Moloch. It has been sup-

* IMin\ , lili. xvi. cap. ! \

f Comnanteiiet, lib. vi. 10.

126 SAINT PATRICK.

posed that Druidism came from the Phoenicians,
from whom the Hebrews derived their worst forms
of idolatry. The Druids had their Baal, as ap
pears from their Beltine* fires. To face the sun
was to be about right in the world. The word
south meant right, and north meant wrong. If one
was beginning any work, he must first look toward
the sun if he would prosper. A boat going to
sea must turn sunwise. As soon as people were
married they must make a turn sunwise. The
dead were borne sunwise to the grave. Perhaps
this was one reason why Dichu wished the new
church to face the south. The fronting of build
ings toward the east may have had a similar mean
ing. Certain men, who think that they must turn
toward sunrise when saying their prayers, may
ask whether they do not take their custom from
the Druids, whose priests were likely to do the
same thing. Thus follies creep into the very
Church of Christ. They perhaps adored the sun,
but they do not seem to have made idols. They
held that their gods were omnipresent, and to be
worshipped in roofless temples or within large
circles of stones. Some writers have thought that

* Beal-tain, Beat's fire-day. Beal means the sun ; in honour
of the sun the fire was made.

SA INT PA TRICK. 127

.hey had their chief seats in Ireland and on the
Isle of Man ; thence they spread over Britain and
into Gaul.

Saint Patrick might lay hold of some of their
doctrines, and thus gain a footing for his own.
They were ready to listen when he told them that
God was everywhere, always having his eye upon
their d« •< ••!.-. They believed in the immortality of
the soul, and had some crude ideas of future re
wards and punishments. They taught that there
was another world, where the good souls preserved
their identity and their habits. The souls of bad
men, they thought, passed into lower animals to
be chastised. At funerals letters were burnt, for
the dead to read or carry to those who had gone
before them across the borders of the spirit-land.
Money was also loaned to the departed/ on condi
tion that it should be repaid in the world to come.*
The prieM- were careful t«> !><• the bankers, 411!:
certain prints now arc, \\h<» receive money to pur
chase souls out of purgatory. But what a work
to clear a l'c\v truth- In mi a mass of err«.r>! The
missionary mu-t preach Christ, who offered the
only redeeminj- sacrifice, and brought lite and im
mortality to li^ht in the Lr"-pel. He must declare

*M: i. chap. 2.

128 SAINT PATRICK.

the facts of a judgment, a hell, a heaven, and ar.
eternity. Druidism was to the ancient Irish what
Brahminism now is to the Asiatics ; the work of
Patrick was quite similar to that of the modern
missionary among the Hindoos.

In going to Tarah, the citadel of Dmidism,
Patrick must meet the priests and bards of a false
religion. These men had great influence at the
royal court, and to this day it remains in Ireland,
as "Kirwan" has shown us :

"The power of these priests was very great.
They directed in all sacred things — they offered all
sacrifices — they were the teachers of the youth,
and the judges in all disputes public and private.
Their supreme pontiff was elected by these priests
in conclave assembled; and he was called the Arch-
druidj ancf possessed power without check or con
trol. Whilst thus the ministers of the law, they
enforced their decisions by religious sanctions, and
if any refused obedience to their decrees they for
bid their presence at all religious sacrifices. The
persons thus doomed were regarded as accursed,
:md were shunned as were those white with leprosy
by the Jews.

" These priests were exempt from war and from
taxation, and were regarded with the deepest vene-

SAINT PATRICK. 129

ration. Their learning was not committed to
writing, lest it should go down among the people;
it was committed to memory, and was thus trans
mitted from one to another. When they commit
ted anything to writing, it is said they used the
Greek language, of which the people were utterly
ignorant.

" Many of the customs and superstitions which
now exist in Ireland, and which are wielded with
great power by the priests to gain their purposes,
existed there long before the days of Saint Patrick.
The peasantry now bury their dead with peculiar
rites; they have their wakes, when the neighbour-
watch with the dead and carouse; lighted candles
are placed around the corpse ; the dead are taken
to the grave followed by the wailing multitudes,
and are buried with their feet toward the east. So
it was two thousand years ago ; thus Dathy, the
la-t pii'jan priner (»!' the enimtrv, was buried.

"They have now their holy well* in Ire hind.
They r\i>t in ^reat numbers in every part of the
country ; and all have a history which connects
them with tin- lanta-tie doings of some saint or
saintess in remote antiquity. It i- truly painful to
gee the deep path> worn by pilgrims to them, going
round and round them on their knees, doing pen-

130 SAINT PATRICK.

ance for their sins. At the canonical time for
visiting these wells the paths around them are red
with the blood of the poor pilgrims. Around these
wells are rude stones, among which the poor people
stuif some of their rags, and even some of their
hair, as a witness, if necessary, of their visit ; and
around these wells are holy bushes, on which are
always streaming some fragments of pilgrim gar
ments to put the guardian saint of the well in mind
of ' the stations' there performed. As to" these
wells there can be no doubt ; I have visited them
recently, and have seen the things now described.
The name of Saint Patrick, and of a Saint Bridget,
are widely associated with these fountains; but
they were regarded as holy before the Christian era ;
and the penances now performed around them, and
in the same manner and form, were performed
in obedience to Druid priests two thousand years
ago. Indeed, Thomas Moore, himself a papist,
admits that the holy St. Bridget, of whom Alban
Butler so piously writes, was the Vesta of the fire-
worshippers ; and that the nuns of St. Bridget were
only the Druidesses continued under a new name !

" Who, born in Ireland, or descended from Irish
parents, has not heard of fairies, and of their doings
and antics, until he has feared if not believed their

SA INT PA TRICK. 131

existence? There is scarcely any form of supersti
tion which has more generally seized on the Irish
mind than this. The shoe of an ass is often nailed
on the door-sill t<» keep oil' the fairies. The priests
bless amulets, which are sold for ' a compensation/
and are worn around the neck, to keep off* the
witches and the fairies ! When a boy or girl sent
to a Protestant school gets sick, the priest, even in
our own day, tells the parents that their child is
bewitched in punishment for going to those awful
schools, and offers to drive off the witches for * a
obmpeiMatioo/ and on the condition that the child
be withdrawn from the schools. If the child gets
well, the priest has the credit ; if it dies, the
parents and child have gone too far to have the
punishment remitted! But these fairy legends
and superstitions jare of Druid origin, and have
been adopted and trai;>imtted by the priests to
work upon the fears of the people.

"Then- an- hu-hes -acred to the fairies, and
1 pleasant hill>' \\hnv they love to congregate," and
lonely towers amid \vho-e ruins they love to gam
bol by moonlight, and grovu mand to their .-ports
and meetings. To cut down a lairy hu>h is even
now a sacrilege am on L: the ignorant. And the in
stances are not, even in our day, unfrequeut of a

132 SAINT PATRICK.

peasant removing his cabin when ignorantly built
on the pathway of the fairies, or when found in
their way when opening up a new path. All, again
of Druidic origin, whose priests had their fairies,
and their bushes, their hills, groves and places
sacred to them !

" The Irish peasantry have a remarkable fond
ness for bonfires. On Saint John's Eve they
kindle them on the hill-tops all over the country.
The lovely Charlotte Elizabeth thus describes one
of these of which she was a witness : The pile,
composed of turf, bog- wood and other combustibles,
was built to a great height. ' Early in the evening
the peasants began to assemble, all habited in their
best array, glowing with health ; I had never seen
anything resembling it ; and was exceedingly de
lighted with their handsome, .intelligent, merry
faces. The fire being kindled, a splendid blaze
shot up. After a pause the ground was cleared in
the front of an old piper, the very beau-ideal of
drollery and shrewdness, who, seated in a low
chair, with a well-replenished jug by his side,
screwed his pipes to the liveliest tunes, and the
endless jig began.

"'When the fire burned low, an indispensable
part of the ceremony commenced. Every one

SAINT PA TRICK. 133

present of the peasantry passed through it, and
i&veral children were thrown across the sparkling
embers/ And after describing other ludicrous
scenes, she remarks, 'Here was the old pagan wor
ship of Baal, if not of Moloch too, carried on
openly and universally in the heart of a nominally
Christian country, and by millions professing the
Chri>tian name. I was confounded, for I did not
know, then, that Popery is only a crafty adapta
tion of pagan idolatries to its own scheme.'

"The Druids were fire- worshippers, as were the
Asiatics from whom they were descended. The
priests of Rome adopted the days and the customs
consecrated to the worship of fire; they called the
day- after a saint, and gave to the ceremonies a
papal significance; and thus perpetuated the cere-
monic- «-f tin* I)ruid- to our time.

"Tin- kin-- had their bards, as had also all the
great aristocratic families. These bards became,
in time, a privilr^-d ela-s, and exercised great in
fluence. They were the chief chroniclers; they
kept the family L'<'noalogie8; they casf int.. rude
verse the deed- nf their heroes, and. like Homer in
Greece, iv-itcd them on public; occasions. On
great occasion-, and at all great festival-, these
bards were j.n-cnt. By their example they ex-

134 SAINT PATRICK.

cited the youth to the cultivation of oratory, and
by their fervid appeals they swayed the multitude,
and filled them with the highest enthusiasm.
They moved the people as the high winds move
the trees of the forest. They would seize their
harps and play and sing their own national songs,
in which the people would join, until the family,
provincial, or national spirit was intensely excited,
when all were ready to go forth to deeds of
heroism or of rapine. And the names of some
of these bards, or Fileas, are retained and
honoured among the people of the country to the
present day. Had the productions of these bards
escaped the wrecks of time, Ireland, too, might
have its Homer, its Virgil, its Horace and its
Ossian !

"There are long and dreary annals running
through ages, which record little else than the rise
and fall of kings — the wars between provinces and
petty nobles — the insurrections of the peasants
against their oppressors — and the way in which
nobles at the head of their retainers ravaged
the island, and destroyed everything by fire and
sword. By causes like these, and by the bloody
rites and superstitions of the Druids, the people
were wasted and brutalized. The arts introduced

SA INT PA TRICK. 135

by the first colonists were neglected — agriculture
was fc rsaken ; and, save at intervals few and far
between, the entire island was agitated by the
jealousies and conflicts of contending princes and
nobles, until in the process of time the people were
buried in profound barbarism and ignorance.

"Through those obscure ages rose various cus
toms, traces of which are now visible. The people
were divided in ranks and grades. These grades
were designated by the number of colours they
were permitted to wear; the lowest could wear but
one, and none but the royal family could wear
•seven. The rank next to royalty was composed
of the learned order; these wore six colours, which
shows the high estimation of learning in that early
day. This custom is the origin of the Scotch plaid
worn by the Highlanders down to our own times.

The Irish are proverbial for their hospitality.
In those early times provisions were made by law
for straiiL:'T- ami travc Hern, by creating an order
of nobility called ,„/,,-/, dners. Th«-e di-nii .-:
were iv.jiiiiv.l ID i.c the proprietor^ of BeV60 town-
lands; to h: wrfc : to have
seven herd- «.f r..\v», i-ach herd to contain one
hundred and 1'ortv. their man-ion \va- rc«jnirc-d lo
be acci — -il»lc l»v t'«.iir ditVcn-iif RV6QUW; and a

136 4 SAINT PATRICK.

sheep and beef were required to be in constant
preparation, that whoever called should be fed
without delay. And all was gratuitous. Thus
the hospitality of the Milesians was without a
parallel in Europe; and such is the character of
the Irish people to the present time. The houses
of the Irish gentry are now as open as they were
under* the law promulged from the old halls of
Tarah ; and in the poorest mud cottage on the side
of the moor you will receive a kind welcome,
and, if you are in want, a warmth of sympathy
that will divide with you the last cup of porridge
or the last potato. 'An Irish welcome' is pro
verbial in all the earth for cheerfulness, heartiness
and truthfulness. And the Milesians have carried
with them into all the lands of their dispersion this
characteristic of their ancestry. May they nevei
lose it!

"These are national characteristics which have
their foundation in institutions older than our
Christianity ; and which, because of the stationary
principle which has obtained in Ireland, have been
transmitted to our time. Once break, as it must
be broken in our country, the influence of that old
stationary principle ; save the native impulses of
the Milesians, but elevate them above the influence

SAINT PATRICK. 137

of the social and Druidical laws of old Ollarah
Fodhla, and the conventions of Tarah, — and you
have material out of which to form as noble a
people as walk the earth."*

If Druidism thus stamped itself upon a pcMplr,
so that its customs were not all removed by Chris
tianity, what must it have been when Saint Patrick
1" -an hi- labour- in Ireland? Its priests and poets
were tin- learned men of the country. Twenty
year- <>f study were required to educate a Druid.
He kii»-\v -nun-thing <»f t lie sciences of mathematics,
a-n •'.immy, rhetoric, law, medicine and moral
pliiln-ophy. He was skilled in the arts of magic.
His knowledge was condensed into triads, or
-cntences each con tain ing three strong points.
One triad ran thus : 4k The first three principles of
wi-dni,i are — obedience to the laws of God, care for
the welfare of man and fortitude under the acci
dent nf life."

\\ »e to Saint Patrick it' a Druid grew jealous!
A sin-le word from a Druid for ever withered a
human bring; he was " cut d«>\vn like grass." !!••
always lia<l the kin-.'. ,.ai-, and at hi- whimper the
cruel order went forth to slay the hated man. On

* Ireland and il.. Iri-h l,y Kirwan (Rev. N. Murray, D. D.),
N. Y. Observer, 1856.

138 SAINT PATRICK.

his lip was war or peace; in his hand the golden
knife for the throat of the condemned; at the
sound of his rude lyre the people rose to the work
of vengeance; on his word the doom of a kingdom
hung. The loyalty of the land was a religion of
wonder and fear, and to dispute with a Druid was
a crime against the state.*

Woe also to the disciples of Saint Patrick if
they kept back the tax claimed by the Druids!
The chief Druid of every district required all
families, rich or poor, to pay him certain annual
dues. On an evening in autumn they must put
out every fire in their houses. It seems to have
been at the time of the convention of Tarah.
Then every man must appear and pay his tax.
If he failed, he was the object of terrible ven
geance. To be with a fire in the house, and with
out money in the hand, was a crime. The next
morning the Druid priest allowed every man to
take some of his own sacred fire, and rekindle the
flame on his own hearth. It was a crime for one
man to lend a living coal to his neighbour ; if he
did it, he was reduced to poverty and declared an
outlaw.f To be a Christian one must renounce

* Disraeli, Amenities, i. 1.

f Toland's His. Druids, pp. 71. 72.

SAINT PATRICK. 139

such customs of superstition at the peril of his
life. Also, if he saw "the fiery cross" borne on
the hills, he must rush to the rallying-place of the
clans. The chieftain had slain a goat, dipped in
its blood the ends of a wooden cross, set it on fire,
given it to the clansman, and told him to run and
wave it on the hill-tops. When his breath was
gone, another would take it up and repeat the
signal. Tht man who did not obey the summons
was doomed

CHAPTER IX.

SAINT PATRICK'S ARMOUR.
j

HE story is that King Laogaire and his court
were preparing for the great feast held at
the time of the convention at Tarah. One
of the oldest writers upon Saint Patrick, in
his fondness for the Scripture style, says : "Now
there happened in that year the idolatrous festival
which the Gentiles were wont to observe with many
incantations and magical inventions, and some other
superstitions of idolatry; gathering together the
ki< gs, satraps, dukes, chieftains and nobles of the
people; summoning the magicians, enchanters,
augurs, with the inventors or teachers of every art
and gift, unto Laogaire (as unto King Nebuchad
nezzar of old) to Tarah, which was their Babylon.
. . . They were worshipping and exercising them
selves in that Gentile festivity." *

Every fire was to be put out in the land, and it
was "made known by proclamation to all that
* Muirchu Maccn-Machtene, an Irish writer supposed to be
of the seven kh century.— Vide Todtfs Saint Patrick, chap. iii.

140

SAINT PA TRICE.

whosoever should, on that night, kindle a fire before
the king's fire had been kindled on the hill of
Tarah, that soul should be cut off from his people."
We may imagine that

" The king was seated on a royal throne,
And in his face majestic greatness shone :
A monarch tor heroic deeds designed,
For noble acts become a noble mind :
About him, summoned by his strict command,
The peers, the priests and commons of the land,
In princely state and solemn order stand."

The night is falling. Not yet have the Druids
struck their sacred fire on the hill of Tarah. Death
to the man who dares to kindle his own in the very
teeth of the law ! The king looks out of his
window; the glare of a distant flume eatrhcs his
eye. He is amazed. Is his sovereignty de~|»i~.-d .'
" Who U thi- that sets at naught the law?" he
inquires. " Who is so defiant as to light his fire
just in >i<rlit of my palace?"

"Death to him !" mutter the Druid counsellors,
who are in still greater alarm. All eyes stand out
with a-stniii-lmiriit. The word run- thou-h the,
halls, "There is a fire on yonder hill."

'•What r-hall be d«me V" a-k* the kin<r, who is
scarcely permitted to have a mind of his own. It

142 SAINT PATRICK.

is a religious offence ; the priests must give their
advice.

UO king, live for ever!" is the reply of the
Druids, as framed by our old author, who labours
to imitate the style of Scripture and make the
scene parallel to events in Daniel's time. " This
fire which we see shall never be extinguished to all
eternity unless we put it out to-night. Moreover,
it shall prevail over all the fires of our wonted ob
servance ; and he who has kindled it shall prevail
over us and over thyself, and shall win away from
thee all the men of thy kingdom." Well had it
been for the Druids if they had known Scripture
so familiarly as to play thus upon the words of
Daniel to the king in Babylon ! They would not
have been in such alarm.

" Now," continues our author, " when King
Laogaire heard all these things he was greatly
troubled, as Herod was of old, and all the city of
Tarah with him. And he answered and said,
' This shall not be so, but we will now go and see
the end of the matter, and we will take and kill
the men who are doing such wickedness against
our kingdom/ y>

The story is, that the king set out for the fire-
crowned hill, with numerous courtiers in his train.

SAINT PATRICK. 143

The Druids would not permit the king nor any of
the valiant knights to venture too close, lest some
strange power should injure them. Coming to a
halt, they advised that the daring intruder should
be brought into the royal presence. "Let none
rise up at his coming," said they, "nor pay him
any respect, lest he win them by his arts."

The man was ordered to appear. He at once

obeyed. He entered among the horses and chariots

and t4ie array of courtiers, chanting the words,

ne trust in chariots and some in horses, but

we will remember the name of the Lord our God."

All eyes were upon the dignified and courageous

stranger. One of the royal attendants rose up from

n-spcd to him. This was Ere Mac Dego, a noble

young man, to whom the stranger said, " Why do

y. 11 alone rise up to me ip honour of my God."

u I know n..t why," was the answer; "it seems
as if fire com.- fn.m your lips to mine."

"Wilt tlimi receive ih« baptism of the Lord?"
"I will receive it wh, M I know who thou art."
" I am I'atri.-k, :i messenger .,!' M,riM to all wno
will hear the truth of hrav,,,." \\ ,- ;irc not bound
to believe all fchif, even aftrr havin- , -ullcd a few
reasonable stat,-,,,,.,^ II-..MI a mass of absurdities.
But there is a.Mi,l in the legends an account

144 SAINT PATRICK.

wonders performed by Patrick, modelled after the
miracles wrought by the hand of Moses before
Pharaoh, except that Moses is utterly outdone.
Very coolly does Father Brenan say : " The con
ference which on this occasion took place between
Saint Patrick and Laogaire is so interwoven with
unattested and incredible anecdote that it might
perhaps be as well passed over.* We pass it over.

The king is furious. He orders his people to
seize Patrick. But the fearless missionary chants
the words, "Let God arise, and let his enemies be
scattered." "We may suppose that he explained the
matter of his fire on the hill. It had nothing to
do with Easter, and, even if it had, the royal pagan
would have cared nothing for that. It was kindled
before his tent, simply to expel the chill of an
October night. The king is appeased. Irish wrath
quickly gives way to a generous Irish forgiveness.
As the missionary is a stranger, he shall receive
Irish hospitality from some of the nobles.

The next day, Patrick, with five of his compan
ions, enters the hall where the court is feasting.
The king's chief bard rises to greet him. This is
Dubtach, a Druid of great learning and fame.
With him also rises the young poet Fiacc, a stu-
* Eccl. Hist. Ireland, p. 14.

SAINT PATRICK. 145

dent whom he taught in the Druid lore. They
listen while the mis.-ionary preaches what they
never heard before. He is represented as saying to
the king and the magnates of the convention:
" You worship the sun ; you adore the light ; it is
but a mere creature. That sun which you see ri-o
daily for our good at the command of the Al
mighty, but its splendour shall not always endure.
The day will come when its light shall be extin
guished, and all those that worship it shall misera
bly perish. But we adore the true Sun, Christ the
Ivord and Ruler of all the world." The poet-lau
reate and his young disciple saw the folly of tin-
fire- \vor~hip, the leading doctrine of Irish Druid-
ism. They renounced the system. They believed
the word and were the first converts at Tarah.
The younger of these two poets might have found
a genial frit-nd in IVni^nus, the sweet singer of t In-
Irish Israel. Tin- kini: was touched by the prayer
of Patrick. Troubled, fearing, trembling and seek
ing relief, he -aid to hi> counsellor- : " It i- better
for me to believe than to die." He professed him
self a believer in Chri>t. Hut it would take a
large mantle of charity to cover hi- sins. He
eeems to have acted from policy, rather than prin
ciple. The account is, that many at Tarah brli>

10

146 SAINT PATRICK.

and that " Patrick baptized many thousand men on
that day" No doubt this is an exaggeration.

We may know much of Saint Patrick's spirit
amid these scenes if we may give credit to an an
cient Irish hymn as one written by himself. It
is often called Saint Patrick's Armour. It is in
the style of a lorica or prayer against all evil
powers. Some parts of it are still remembered by
the Irish peasantry, and repeated at bed-time as a
protection from evil. Thus words of devotion
have been turned to a sort of superstitious dream.
" That this hymn is a composition of great anti
quity cannot be questioned. It is written in a
very ancient dialect of the Irish Celtic. ... It
notices no doctrine or practice of the Church that
is not known to have existed before the fifth cen
tury. . . . We may not, therefore, err very much in
taking this hymn as a fair representation of Saint
Patrick's faith and teaching. Whether it was
actually written by him or not, it was certainly
composed at a period not very far distant from his
times, with a view to represent and put forth his
sentiments. . . . Notwithstanding some tincture of
superstition, we find the pure and undoubted truths
of Christianity, a firm faith in the protecting
providence and power of God ; and Christ is made

SAINT PATRICK. 147

all and in all.* None of the peculiar errors of
the Rome of the eighth century are found in it.
Were it " a pious fraud" of the monks, it would
certainly have had praises to the Virgin Mary, ap
peals to angels and saints, and hints concerning the
power of relics, charms and rosaries. It is thus
literally rendered by Dr. Todd :

I. I bind to myself f to-day

The strong power of the invocation of the Trinity,
The faith of the Trinity in Unity,
The Creator of the elements.

II. I bind to myself to-day

The power of the incarnation of Christ,
With that of his baptism ;

power of the crucifixion,
With that of his burial ;
The power of the resurrection,
With [that of] the ascension;
The power of the coming
To the sentence of judgment.

III. I bind to myself to-day

The power of the love of seraphim,

In the obedience of angels,

In the hope of resunvrtion unto reward,

* Todd's St. Tat rick, pp

t Dr. Toddshowg th.-it thi- i, thr true n-Mdrrinir ..f th«- wjrd
Atomriug, usually translated "At Tarah." This 1< ^,-ns the
evidence that tin- hvmn wa> first used at this royal «»e»t.

148 SATNT PATRICK.

In the prayers of the noble fathers,

In the predictions of the prophets,

In the preaching of apostles,

In the faith of confessors,

In the purity of holy virgins,

In the acts of righteous men. .

IV. I bind to myself to-day
The power of heaven,
The light of the sun,
The whiteness of snow,
The force of fire,
The flashing of lightning,
The velocity of wind,
The depth of the sea,
The stability of the earth,
The hardness of rocks.

V. I bind to myself to-day

The power of God to guide me,
The might of God to uphold me,
The wisdom of God to teach me,
The eye of God to watch over me,
The ear of God to hear me,
The word of God to give me speech,
The hand of God to protect me,
The way of God to prevent me,
The shield of Gou to shelter me,
The host of God to defend me,

Against the snares of demons,
Against the temptations of vices,

SAINT PATRICK. 149

Against the lusts of nature,

Against every man who meditates injury to me,

Whether far or near,

With few or with many.

VI, I have set around me all these powers,

Against every hostile, savage power '.

Directed against my body and my soul ;

Against the incantations of false prophets,

Against the black laws of heathenism,

Against the false laws of heresy,

Against the deceits of idolatry,

Against the spells of women, and smiths, and Druids,

Against all knowledge which blinds the soul of man.

VII. Christ, protect me to-day

Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wound,
That I may receive abundant reward.

VIII. Christ with me, Cliri-t l.ef..re in.-.

Chri-t behind me, Christ within me,

Cliri-t l>riii ,ith me, Chri-t al>ove me,

Christ at my ri-ht, Christ at my left,

( liri-t in the fort [when I am at IK. me],

Christ in the it [when I travel],

Chri.-t in the .-hip [ when I sail].

IX. < hri-t in tin- heart of every man

\VliM thinks of me;
(hri-t in the month of every man
speaks to me;

150 SAINT PATRICK.

Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

X. Of the Lord is salvation,
Christ is salvation,
With us ever be
Thy salvation, O Lord.

CHAPTER X.

CAUSES OF SUCCESS.

is no; our intention to relate all the travels
and heroic adventures attributed to Saint
Patrick by those biographers who have
dealt largely in the wonderful and mirac
ulous. They rarely ascribed to him a failure;
almost every prince whom he visits is suddenly
converted; wherever he goes whole districts are
won to the faith, and a bishop is placed over the
group of churches. This looks suspicious on ite
very face. The greatest missionaries, from the
Apostle Paul downward, have had defeats. Uni
form success has rarely been the rule in human
toils. The wise advantage taken of a defeat is
quite as much to the honour of. a hero as an un
broken series of victories.

No doubt there was some romance in his preach
ing, and on his journeys various strange exploit**.
But the tendency has been to exaggerate his la
bours. "Many of those advent un •> were evidently
invented to pay a compliment to certain tribes, or

151

152 SAINT PATRICK.

clans, by ascribing the conversion of their ances
tors to the preaching of Saint Patrick. Others
were intended to claim for certain churches, or
monasteries, the honour of having been by him
founded: and others, again, were framed with the
object of supporting the pretensions of the see of
Armagh to the possession of lands or jurisdiction
in various parts of Ireland."* Very singular is
it, if he made so many dioceses, that one modern
author names twentyf of them as founded before
the close of the fifth century. Of this statement
we shall find hereafter an explanation. They were
central, missionary churches, each having a bishop
in the sense of a pastor over his own flock, and
the general oversight of the little bands of Chris
tians in his district.

What were the causes of Patrick's success f On
this question we may hang what is farther to be re
lated. We shall take those statements which seem
most likely to be true, illustrating them with such
anecdotes as exhibit the character of the man and
of his religious teachings.

A commanding presence seems to have lent its
aid. Tradition portrays him as attractive, venera-

* Todd's St. Patrick, 400.

t Brenan, Eccl Hist. Ireland, chap. ii.

SAINT PATRICK. 153

ble and dignified in his appearance. In his
there was a majesty of love and truth. A portly
frame, open countenance and imposing manner are
not essential elements of usefulness. The Apostle
Paul was " in bodily presence contemptible," but
he was a preacher of tremendous power. The MP-
dent piety shining forth through uncomely features
is often a means of grace. Yet amoii- an i
rant, superstitious, barbarous people there i- a t
in a noble presence. Chieftains appear to i
seen something in Patrick more stately than \va- in
themselves.

He went from Tarah to the Tailten races. The
court resorted thither to engage in the royal di
versions. A modern Irish fair would be a more
promising scene for preaching. But in spite of the
tilt-, tournaments and rough sports of the Iri-h
Olympia, he gained the heart of large numlx r
people. He bade fair to turn the amu-ement- into
-olemn exercises. The Druid of longest, gray. ~i
beard eonld not thn- -way the multitude. Num
bers listened and l.<-lie\ed, arenrdin:: to tin- tradi
tions. lint tin- kin-'- Ln.iher, ( arl.i-i. -MI of the
great Niall of the \in«- II . an-ry when

he feared tint kk* games would \n> -j»oiled. It i\
likely that a Druid whispered revenge in his ear.

154 SAINT PA TRICK.

He first sought to kill the missionary, but his
brother Conall warded off the blow. He then
caused Patrick's helpers to be beaten and thrown
into the Blackwater. They were not drowned.
Persecution won them sympathy.

Conall opened the doors of his heart and home
to the preacher, inquired the way of life, believed
on the Lord, and with great joy was baptized ; thus
accepting brotherhood with the lowliest peasant
who had bound himself to Christ. Months of
preaching were passed in this region. lf Show
kindness to my believing children," said the mis
sionary, "and be just all the days of your life."

" I devote to the Lord," said the prince, " the
site for a church." He measured the ground with
his own feet, and ordered that it should be sixty
foot-lengths long. There stood the building which
took the name of " the Great Church of Patrick."
This Conall was the great-grandfather of Colum-
ba, the renowned missionary at lona and in West
ern Scotland.

His mode of teaching is worthy of note. It was
direct, full of truth and forcible. It related to
Christ rather than to the Church. A very curious
and ancient anecdote, whether true or false, affords
a specimen of what was believed to be his manner

SAINT PATRICK. 155

of instructing the ignorant. He crossed the Shan
non and went into Connaught, and lingered near
the Mount of the Druids in Roscommon. Perhaps
he mused upon the fact that races perish from the
earth as well as men, as he passed by the i-omctery
of the ancient kings. Perhaps he found hospitality
in the royal fort. Near it was a well-known foun
tain. Thither he and his companions went one
morning, it would seem, to talk with th<»i' who
came for water. The little company wa< afterward
magnified into "a synod of holy bishops!" It is
said that there they lifted their early song of pi
to God.

It appears that King Laogaire had smt two of
his daughters into this neighbourhood, and p!a<-« d
them under the care of two Druids. For a morn
ing walk they came to the fountain, and were much
surprised to meet the strangers, not being quite
sure but they were "men of the hills," or halt'
gods, who were supposed to dwell in the mountain
caves.

" Whence are ye ?" they asked, " and whence
come ye ?''

" It were better for you to confess to <mr true
God than to in<juin- <-<>n<vrning our race."

"Who is God, and where does he dwell?" the

156 SAINT PATRICK.

elder asked. " Has he sons and daughters, silver
and gold ? Is he ever-living ? Does he love his
children ? Are they beautiful ? Tell us of him.
How shall he be seen ? Is it in youth or in old
age that he is to be found ?"

" Our God is the God of all men," answered
Patrick. " He is the God of heaven and earth,
the sea and the rivers, the mountains and the
valleys, the sun, the moon and the stars. He is
in heaven, and above heaven. He dwells also on
the earth. He gives life to all things — light to the
sun, stars to the sky, water to the fountains, and
he upholds all beings."

How different was he from the gods of the
Druids ! If we had never heard of the true God,
we might understand how the king's daughters
wondered. But they were to hear a still greater
truth — one which had power to win the heart of all
who will give due heed to it. Those, who call it a
mystery and treat it with neglect, know not how
precious it is to the sinner seeking the way to be
saved.

" He hath a Son co-eternal and co-equal with
himself," continued Patrick. " The Son is not
younger than the Father ; nor the Father older
than the Sou. And the Holy Ghost breatheth in

SAINT PATRICK. 157

them.* The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost
are not divided. But I wish to unite you to the
heavenly King, as ye are the dau^-lit* T- of an
earthly king; that is, to believe."

"Teach us most diligently how we may believe
in the heavenly King. Show us Imw we may see
him face to face, and whatsoever thou wilt say untu
us we will do?"

No doubt here is a blank in the lc— on. If the
scene were real, the plain requirements must have
been taught. And Patrick said : " Believe ye that
by baptism ye put off the sin of your father and
your moflu T

"We beli.-ve."

" Believe ye in repentance after sin ?"
" We believe."

' relieve ye in the unity of the Church?"
" We believe."

Nothing more is added that illustrates Patrick's
method of teaching. In this there is not all that

"Inflat in eis," proceedeth from them, would have- been
the truth.

f The error here may have been that of the biographer,
ratlu-r than i.f 1'utrirk. Original -in is not ])iit :i\v;iy by bap-
tium; itn n-inoval by Christ may U- in.li, ,,t. ,1. 'i hr -iKn ,,u,.,t
not be takvn f«.r the cause. Thi« error grew up quite i-arly in
some part* of tin- ( 'hri-ti;in < hur. h.

158 SAINT PATRICK.

we could wish. There are some errors. But there
is nothing here of modern Romanism. On their
confession of faith the king's daughters were bap
tized at the same fountain. What is said of their
wish to " see the face of Christ" and their sudden
death is evidently the boldest fiction.

The story also is, that their teachers were con
verted " to the repentance of God." They believed
and renounced their Druidism. Near this spot a
church arose That many Druids were converted
is very credible. If only a few of them had
accepted the Christian doctrines, we should expect
to find more persecution and less success.
*( His power of adaptation must have aided
Patrick's influence. There is a beautiful story
which gives nobility to one of the plainest of
plants. It is said that Patrick once came to a
barbarous tribe and began to preach to them in the
open air. He spoke of the Holy Trinity. They
shook their heads. It was too sublime a mystery
for an ignorant and faithless people, who would not
accept as true what they could not comprehend.
These rationalists grew indignant and intolerant.
They were about to enter into the controversy with
clubs and drive the missionary from their soil. He
understood the wise management of human nature.

SA I *T r.l TRICK. 159

Stooping down, lit- took from the green sod a sprig

which h;nl three leave- united in one, and holding
it up lu- -imple illustration of the Trinity.

It was the common shamrock, trodden under
in the pastures and the wild woods. The Mil
the people wen- gained, (jiiite as much bv the tact
of the .Mran-e preacher a.- l»v the
inent drawn iVom a symbol so imperfect and un
worthy of the theme. They li-tcned to the p:
of the docti' M in the Script lire-, and were

convinced. The legend is that the -hamrock l>ecanie
in thi- way a national emblem of Ireland. In our
times many an Iri.-h hat i- decked with tlie sham-
on Saint Patrick'- dfl ^

// '/"it aided Patrick's in

fluence. It appears that he overthrew some oft ho
pillar-Moiies, which >eem t.» ha\c been the chief
objects of worship with th«- pa-an Iri>h. One of
th.-e wa- the Crom-cr "ihe black M«i..piiiir-

itone.91 Keating MJI --tlie same go<l that

adored in ( i :11<1 that this WW llie

form of idolatry introduced Upoag "the
MileHan-.""- Around it -tood hi -cr idols

of brass. The spot was called "the plain of ki,
ing." It had been a favou.

• li J, p. 156.

160 SA INT PA TR ICK.

Laogaire. To this "Moloch of Ireland" no
doubt human victims were sacrificed.

To this plain the ardent missionary bent his
way. He resolved that the idol should fall.
Romanists differ as to whether it fell at the touch
of his aholy staff" or at the voice of his prayer.
We believed in neither of these means, for it would
involve a miracle. It is far more likely that he
caused it to be smitten to the dust by blows which
were not at all mysterious. A hammer in a strong
hand was sufficient. The people saw that such
idols were worse than vanity. There too, it is
said, a church was built, transmitting "to suc
ceeding ages the memory of the wonderful things
that God had accomplished there by the ministry
of his servant."

Another name of the idol is thought to have
been Crom-dubh, whence a certain day is now called
in Ireland, Cromduff Sunday. It may be that
the old heathen festival was turned into a Chris
tian observance. The people were not willing to
give up, altogether, their pagan revelries, and in
their stead certain rites, more Christian, were
adopted. It may be that Patrick showed some
tolerance toward the old superstitions. He dealt
tenderly with the popular usages and prejudices.

SA INT PA TEIC K. 161

He did not break in pieces all the idols of stone,
in the spirit of the young Hebrew king, Josiah.
The chieftain.- would not permit it; the clansmen
would rise in rebellion. On ~.,me of them he was
content to iiis.TJi,e the name of Jesus. Also the
wells, which had long been used f«,r heathen pur
poses, he allowed to be used lor baptism. Near
them churches were built, so that the people might
walk in the old paths fur a new purpose. The
Druid fire became an Ka-ter flame. In a later
day this adaptation of heathen customs to Chris
tian rites gave rise to many evils. Kven the good
Columba said, without meaning any irreverence,
"My Druid i> Christ."

"Nothing is clearer," says Dr. O'Donovan,
" than that Patrick engrafted Christianity on the
pagan superstitious, with >«> much skill that he
won the pc., pi,, over t,, the rim-nan religion be
fore they UlldciMond the exact (litl'd'CUCe bctWCCU

the two system- nf belief; and much of this half-
Pagan, half-Christian n-li^ion will be found not
only in the Irish stories of the Middle Ages, but in
the Mipcrstitious oi' the peas-mtry to tin: present
day." Thi^ rather a sweeping charge. Without
denying that Patrick erred in tlii- direction, it is
certainly unfair to lay all these results to his ac-

162 SAINT PATRICK.

count. Those who came after him were more dis
posed to compromise with the old Druidic customs.
They were ready to borrow from the heathen, as
was then done in almost all Christendom. It was
this, in a great measure, that made Romanism, and
gave it popularity among every people at whose
doors the Church's messengers were knocking.
Gregory the Great was not a fierce iconoclast. He
saw with regret the destruction of heathen temples.
u He enjoined their sanctification by Christian
rites ; the idols only were to be destroyed without
remorse. Even the sacrifices of oxen were to con
tinue, but to be celebrated on the saints' days, in
order gently to transfer the adoration of the people
from their old to their new objects of worship."*

Not yet is the Church rid of this faulty policy.
It is rightly felt to be a duty both to Christianize
society and to socialize the Church. How shall we
adapt our religion to the demands of worldly men ?
Shall we come down to their tastes, their customs,
their habits? Shall we take up what is peculiar
to their society and give it a place in the Church ?
Shall we adopt their amusements and try to hallow
them? This will be, not to socialize our Chris
tianity, but to secularize it. It will be to make the
* Milman, Lat. Chris, bk. iii. chap, vii., A. D, 590.

SAINT PATRICK. 163

"broad road" the easy avenue to the "strait gate;"
the rounds of mirth, the ladder of piety! The
apology that such devices will draw ,M>me sinners
who can be reached by nothing else is suspicious.
It reflects on God's own means. His gospel is
adapted to reach every soul. To carry into the
pulpit the buffooneries that make a street auction
interesting to the crowd, all agape for low wit,
finds a pnc.r excuse in the assertion that some are
thus \v.)ii who can be gained in no other way. I
deny the a— ert i< .n. So long as men have a con-
scienee and nunninii sense, they can be touched by
the solemn realities of eternity and the wondrous
love of Christ. The efforts to tempt them into the
way of life by worldly lures may afford them
amusement, but the result will be only failure.
( 'hrist designed that his kingdom should be in the
world (not of it), in order to Christianize the
world. lie did not mean that the world should
be brought into his kingdom to secularize that
kingdom.

Centres of influence were sought. To gain a country
he must win it- petty kiiiLr: the prince first, then
the peasantry. Secure the chief, the elan would
follow. "To attempt the conversion of the clan
in opposition to the will of the chieftain would

164 SAINT PATRICK.

probably have been to rush upon inevitable death,
or at least to risk a violent expulsion from the
district." We have seen that such leading men
were the first converts. They permitted Patrick to
extend his labours. " The clansmen pressed eagerly
round the missionary who had baptized the chief,
anxious to receive that mysterious initiation into
the new faith to which their chieftain and
father had submitted. The requirements prepara
tory to baptism do not seem to have been very rigor
ous; and it is therefore by no means improbable
that in Tirawley and other remote districts, where
the spirit of clanship was strong, Patrick, as he
tells us himself he did, may have baptized some
thousands of men." *

Thus every castle, every court, every city that
gave him a footing became a centre of influence, a
spring upon the mountain, sending its stream down
upon the lowlands. There grew up the central
churches, which at length swelled into cathedrals ;
there were founded the schools, which a later ae:e

' O

perverted into monasteries ; thence went forth mis
sionaries whose feet were " beautiful upon the
mountains/' for they were the messengers of " good
tidings ;" thither resorted young men afterward,
*Todd's St. Patrick, pp. 498,499.

SAINT PATRICK. 165

and changed the old training-schools into rookeries
of 'idle monks.

The love of pioneering was strong in this earnest
missionary. To go forth whither none had led the
way was his delight. He planted where others
should reap. Like Paul, he chose not to build on
another man's foundation. No doubt he sought
out the scattered bands of believers whom P:il-
ladius had failed to visit and strengthen. He
may have made their cells the nurseries of schools
and churches. In solitary places he may have
found a few disciples, who had retreated into the
forests to be safe from Druid foes and to hold
fellowship with God. These he was able to lead
out of their obscure retreats, place them as teachers
over bands of youth, or as pastors over little flocks
who needed a shepherd.

On his first and perilous journey to the western
coast he came upon such a Christian retreat, if we
may credit the hotter lines of an ancient story.
There he met the "excellent presbyter Ailbe," who
has often been rej.r. >. -nt< •<! as "a bishop" in Ireland
l>efore the days of Saint Patrick. The young man
itf more likely to h:t\< }„ (»n a Culdee missionary.
When he was about to be ordained by Patrick, he
went to " a cave" and dug from the earth certain glass

166 SAINT PA TRICK.

cups used in the communion service. They were
hidden there from intruding robbers, who were very
plentiful in those parts. The cave seems to have
been a rude chapel, fitted up in a concealed place, a
long time before, by some of the early Christians
of Ireland. It is pleasant to imagine that Ailbe
chose the old retreat as the point for new labours,
and won converts from the wild tribes of Sligo,
thus building the old waste places and repairing
the broken altars of Jehovah.

His enthusiasm for souls was a motive-power
within him. He laboured with the ardour and
energy of faith, and produced effects upon rude
minds which proved that God was with him.
Plunging into deep forests as a bold pioneer, he
opened the road to Christian civilization. His
journeys, if described, would serve as a guide-book
to a large part of ancient Ireland. He penetrated
the interior. He went down among the Firbolgs
of Connaught. He went from one province to
another, from one prince to another, undismayed by
dangers or difficulties. Like another Paul, he
preached the Gospel with the Holy Ghost sent
down from heaven ; and his labours were crowned
with great success. Kings, princes and hostile
clans beat their swords into ploughshares and their

SAINT PATRICK. 167

Bpears into priming-hooks ; and so abundant
he in labour that in a few years he carried the
•gospel from Antrim to Kerry, and from the
"NVicklow mountains to the most secluded glens
of Mayo.*

His daring spirit urged him into perilous seem-.-..
AVhat were dangers to such a man? He dared to
obey the call of duty. It appears that on a day
when he was at Tarali, he overheard two ehieftains
conversing together about their home and people.
One of them said, " I am Enna the son of Amal-
gaid, from the western rc^imi-, where is the Wood
of Foclut."

"Thai -reins to be the country of which I had a
dream in my youth, where the children called for
me to come and help them," answered Patrick ; " I
will return with you to your home, if the Lord
shall so direct."

" Thou shalt not go forth with me, lest we be
both slain. It is a long road and beset with
enemies."

" Thou mayst never reach thine own country
alive null-- I -.> \\ith thee, and, if thmi do.-t not
hear my gospel, thou shalt not have eternal life."

" I wMi my -on to be taught, for he is of tender

' M ;i : r, . I • . ! in.l :m<l tli«- Irish.

168 SAINT PATRICK.

years/' said the chief, bringing foward the lad,
whom Patrick took by the hand, while a blessing
fell from the good man's lips. " But I and my
brothers cannot believe until we come to our own
people, lest they should mock us."

It was agreed that Patrick should be well
guarded upon the rough journey to the far west,
" straight across all Ireland." The king sent out
a body of men with him, but it appears that the
missionary paid fifteen of them for their services.
Among some of the wild tribes it seems that the
company fell into savage hands, if Patrick wrote
the following words: "On that day they most
eagerly desired to kill me, but the time was not yet
come; yet they plundered everything they found
with us, and bound me in irons ; but on the four
teenth day the Lord delivered me from their power,
and whatever was ours was restored to us, through
God and by the help of the close friends whom we
had before provided." He seems to have bought
his liberty quite often on such occasions, for he
adds : " You know how much I expended upon
those who were judges throughout all the districts
which I used to visit. And I think I paid them
the price of not less than fifteen men, that so you
might enjoy me, and that I may always enjoy you

SAINT PATRICK. 169

in the Lord. I do not repent of it, yea it is not
enough for me. I still spend and will spend more.
The Lord is might v t<» give me more hereafter,
that I may employ myself for your souls. (2 Cor.
xii. 15)."

Crossing the river M..y, he came into a wooded
country, like that of which lie had dreamed many
years before, and which had clung ever since to his
imagination. But it quite staler- our faith to
read the story of the legend-makers, that he met
two young women who were the very children
once calling t«> him from the Focladian for.
We may follow him to the rally ing-place of the
clan Amaliraid, not far from the present town of
Killala. The clansmen had met to elect a leader
from among the seven sons of their late chieftain.
These sons were brave warriors, "whose match in
the field of battle it were difficult to find." One
of them was Enna, who had talked with the gn -at
missionary at Tarah. Polities ran high, and the
candidates for office were not likely to ma^e them
selves unpopular. If the people should hear the
preacher with fiiv«.ur, the leaders would -ladly
avow them-elve^ believers. Patrick -!...,«! up be
fore the l;ii-« assembly and declared the glad tid
ings. "He penetrated the hearts of all," says

170 SAINT PATRICK.

Tirechan, "und led them to embrace cordially the
Christian faith and doctrine." At an ancient well
it is said that large numbers were baptized, and
among them the sons of the late chief. Over the
flock thus gathered was placed a pastor, " a man
of great sanctity, well versed in Holy Scripture."*

The endurances of such a missionary added to
his success. Heroism captivates; self-denial car
ries with it a high degree of reverence. The man
who makes sacrifices for a people usually wins their
hearts. Monks and Jesuits have ever understood
this fact, and when their self-denial was not real,
they assumed the guise of it. Their haggard faces,
their bare and bleeding feet, won them respect.
There is no good proof that Patrick went about in
the disguises of poverty and humility. He en
dured real trials ; he made real sacrifices ; he re
fused the offers of gifts and wealth. He was
careful to avoid the semblance of seeking his own
glory and profit. It is an Irish saying, that if he
had accepted all that was offered to him in grati
tude, he would not have left as much as would
have fed two horses to those who came after him.

From a few lines of the hymn attributed to his
disciple Fiacc, whom we saw rising up to honour
* Todd's St. Patrick, pp. 442-449.

SAINT PATRICK. 171

him at Tarah, the reader may cull some lines of
truth :

Prudent was Patrick until death:
Bold was he in banishing error:
Therefore bis tame was extended
Up to each tribe of the people.

1 1.- hymns and revelations

And the three fifties* sang daily.

He preaehed, he prayed, he baptized,

And from rendering praise never ceased.

Hi felt not the cold of the season;

The rains-nf the night fell upon him:

To further the kingdom of heaven

He preached through the day on the hills.

Oft on the bare rock h-
A dampened cloak \va.- hi- .-belter:
Then, leaving behind his stone pillow,
He hastened to unceasing labours.!

* Tres quinquagenaa psalmorum is Colgan's version. This
singing of "the three liftie-" sound- to us quite as much out of
time :t- if it were said lliat he took his salary in five-twenties 1

f 11 ml about which some of our readers

will be curious to know. It jrave rise to a proverb. It is. that
when I'atriek wa- in the west of Ireland, he passed his Lent on
a high mountain, " fa.-tini; forty days without taking any kind
of HHtaDttM I 1 ' V.-ry wonderful indeed ! but .Joceline burdens
our amazement still more. This monk gravely tells us that
"in this place he gathered together the several tribes ,,•
pent* and venomous creature*, and drove them headlong into

172 SAINT PATRICK.

When some of his " children in the Lord," wish
ing to show their gratitude, " voluntarily brought
him presents, and pious women gladly offered to
him their ornaments, Patrick refused them all/7 in
order to avoid the charge that he sought to enrich
himself. At first they were offended by his refusal.
But they learned to honour him for his rule of not
accepting presents for himself. He turned the tide
of donations to the Lord. He built up these gifts
in walls of schools and churches, or with them
" redeemed many Christians from captivity." As a
faithful shepherd he was ready to give up every
thing, even life itself, for the sheep.

In his old age he could appeal to the people, re
ferring to these refusals of gifts: "If I took any
thing from you, tell me, and I will restore it.
Nay, I rather expended money for you, so far as I
was able; and I went among you, and everywhere,
for your sakes, amid many dangers, even to those
extreme regions whither no man had ever gone to
the Western ocean, and hence hath proceeded that exemption
which Ireland enjoys from all poisonous reptiles." He did it
by beating a drum, and this is the only point reasonable in the
story. If anything could frighten the " creeping things," a
drum would be likely to do it. It must have been some other
event that gave to a mountain in that region the name of
Croagh-Patrick

SAINT PATRICK. 173

baptize and confirm the people or ordain clergy;
and by the help of the Lord I did all things dili
gently and most gladly for your salvation. At the
same time I gave presents to kings, besides the
cost of keeping their sons, who walked with me in
order that robbers might not seize me and my com
panions. ... I call God to witness that I sought
not honour from you. That honour is enough for
me, which is not seen, but is felt in the heart.
[( '»mpare Paul's * testimony of a good conscience.']
God is faithful, who has promised, and who never
lies. But I see myself already, in this world, ex
ulted above measure by the L<>rd. I know very
well that poverty ami di -comfort suit me much
better than riches and a life of pleasure. Yes, in
deed; even the Lord Jesus became poor for our
sakes. Daily I expected to be seized, dragged into
slavery or slain. But I feared none of all these
things, fnr I < a-t myself in the arms of Him who
rules over all, as it written, 'Cast thy burden on
the Lord, and he will sustain thee.' "

These are stirring words. They go ploughing
through the idle soul, and soften it for fruitfulness.
No leisurely lii>hop was Patrick. Not even could
he take time to revisit his native land. "God
knows how greatly I have wi.-hi-d it," he is made

174 SAINT PATRICK.

to say. "I would gladly have gone into Britain,
as to my country and parents, and even into Gaul
to visit my brethren, and to see the face of the
saints of my Lord. But I am bound by the
Spirit, who will pronounce me guilty if I do this,
and I dread lest the work I have begun should
fall to the ground." There is no evidence that he
ever left Ireland after he had fully entered upon
his mission.

The story that he went to Rome and came back
an archbishop is a groundless fiction. If we be
lieve that he went, we may as well take the whole
story, and believe that he got some relics for
Armagh by rather sharp practice. u While the
keepers of the sacred place were asleep and uncon
scious," he crept in and carried off a goodly quan
tity of old clothes, blood-stained towels, saints'
tresses, and the like. " The pope" winked at the
proceeding. "Oh wondrous deed!" exclaims the
legend is t in rapture. " Oh rare theft of a vast
treasure of holy things, committed without sacri
lege — the plunder of the most holy place in the
world." And yet this writer fails to tell that the
pope embraced Patrick, declared him to be the
Apostle of Ireland, and made him an archbishop.
This invention was left for Joceline.

SAINT PATRICK. 175

Attention to young men was a marked feature of
the ministry of Patrick. He drew them after
him, teaching them as they travelled, and calling
out their gifts by employing them in the good
work. Certain chieftains allowed their son- to at
tend him, often at his expense. The gentle lad
Benignus, the charming singer, was long at his
side. When he found men of the lower rank
suited to a higher calling, he took care to have
them instructed and fitted to become teachers of
the people. Thus he was raising up a native
ministry.

The redemption of captives was another feature
of his wise policy. He had "a zeal to preserve
the country where he himself had borne the yoke
from the abuses of slavery, and especially from the
incursions of the pirates — Britons and Scots,
robbers and traffickers in men — who made it a sort
of store from which they took their human cattle."*
This gave him favour with the peasantry, who
loved their children equally with the nobles in
their forts and eastkt, Many of the rescued cap
tives -M-MI to have Ixen placed in schools and
trained for tin- work of teaching and preaching.
It \v;is common at that time in Europe for the

* Montalernbert, Moiika of the West, vol. ii. },.

176 SA INT PA TRICK.

missionaries to purchase heathen slaves, educate
them, and send them back to their native land to
bear the tidings of salvation. Patrick was an ex
ample to himself of what a redeemed captive
might accomplish.

To do and suffer all in the name of the Lord ap
pears to have been Patrick's earnest desire. For
him he could labour, suffer, die. He was willing
to be counted as one of the " least of all saints." He
says, " Let none think that I place myself on a level
with the apostles. I am a poor, sinful, despicable
man. . . . Ye tine talkers, who know nothing of
the Lord, learn who it is that has called a simple
person like myself from the ranks of the lowly to
serve this people, to whom the love of Christ has
led me. ... I have no power unless he gives it
to me. Pie knows that I greatly desire that he
would give me the cup of suffering which he has
given others to drink. I pray God that he would
give me perseverance, and think me worthy to bear
a faithful testimony until the time of my departure.
If I have striven to do anything for the sake of
my God whom I love, I beseech him to allow me
to shed my blood for his name, with those of my
new converts who have been cast into prison, even
should I obtain no burial, or should my body be

SAINT PATRICK. 177

torn in pieces by wild beasts. I firmly believe that
if this should happen to me, I have gained my
soul along with my body ; for beyond a doubt we
shall rise again in that day with the splendour of
the sun ; that is, with the glory of our Redeemer.
i . . The sun which we see daily rises and sets ;
but the sun Christ will never set, nor will those
who do his will. They shall live, as Christ lives,
for ever."

Ttte power of prayer was held to be an essential
means of success. Not only did Patrick entreat
God with fervour, but he laboured to secure a pray
ing Church. In the old Culdee spirit he chose
cells and secluded places for supplication. Thither
he wished the people to resort. There they might
renew their strength. Thence they might go into
the great field, with the blessing of the Lord upon
them and the Spirit burning in their hearts. It
was hardly his design to found monasteries. "Saint
Patrick h:nl a much higher object in view. He
seems t«i hav«- been deeply imbued with faith in the
inieree^ory powers of the ( 'hurch. He established
throughput the land u-inplrs and oratories [prayiug-
plaer-J lur tli.- perpetual worship of (Jod. He
founded toOMtiei ofpricrtl and l*Miops, whose first
duty it was 'to make constant .-upplieations, prayers,

178 SAINT PATRICK.

intercessions, and giving thanks for all men/'3
He felt that without prayer his preaching would
be in vain. From this source slowly arose an evil.
These societies became convents in a later century.
It would be too much, probably, to claim that
Patrick was entirely free from the monastic tend
encies of that age, yet he was not a monk. His
effort was not to found monasteries.

The power of God was the great cause of success.
To secure it, all else was done. It came by prayer,
by faithful preaching of the divine word, and by
the agencies of active laymen and teachers. Men
planted, God gave the harvest.

Early in Ireland, Christianity took a somewhat
national form. It was not looked upon as coming
from foreigners, nor did it adopt a foreign character.
It had peculiarities of its own. " The successors
of Saint Patrick in his missionary labours were
many of them descendants of the ancient kings and
chieftains so venerated by a clannish people. The
surrounding chieftains and men in authority, who
still kept aloof in paganism, were softened by
degrees when they perceived that in all the assem
blies of the Christian Church fervent prayers were
offered to God for them. In this point of view
the public incense of prayer and ' lifting up of

SAINT PATRICK. 179

hands' of the Church in a heathen land is perhaps
the most important engine of mi.-Monarv success.
'Nothing/ says St. Chrysostom, 'is so apt to draw
men under teaching as to love and t<> he loved ;' kp
be prayed for in the spirit of love." * We do not
need for this purpose any other societies than the
churches of the land; no emivenN, no iimna-i.
but bands of Christians earnot in praver, in their
home- and in the house of (i«>d.

Penooution was the usual attendant of missionary
effort in a heathen country. Chri>tian eivili/ation
has generally followed in the footMeps of a bleed
ing Chnivh. Knt the early Christians of Ireland
were not expo.-ed M much to the sword, the rack
and the tlames. Still their peace has been exag-
gerated. " While, in other countries/' says Mr.
Moore. '• the introduction of C'hri-tianitv has been
the slow work of time, has been re.HMed hy either
government or propl,-, and seldom ell'eetrd without
a lavi.-h Hl'ii-ion of blood, in Ireland, on the con
trary, hy the influence of one humble but zealous
missionary, and with little previous preparation of
the soil by other hands, ( 'hristianity burst forth at
the first ray of apostolie li-ht and with the sudden
ripeness of a northern >ummer, and at once covered
*Todd'88t. Patrick, p. 514.

180 SAINT PATRICK.

the whole land. Kings and princes, when not
themselves among the ranks of the converted, saw
their sons and daughters joining in the train
without a murmur. Chiefs, at variance in all else,
agreed in meeting beneath the Christian banner;
and the proud Druid and bard laid their supersti
tions meekly at the foot of the Cross ; nor, by a
singular disposition of Providence, unexampled
indeed in the whole history of the Church, was
there a single drop of blood shed, on account of
religion, through the entire course of this mild
Christian revolution, by which, in the space of a
few years, all Ireland was brought tranquilly under
the influence of the gospel." *

This pleasing picture is not true to fact. Not
all Ireland was converted, even nominally. Very
much was done, but not without the shedding of a
drop of Christian blood. Patrick refers to his breth
ren who suffered and were slain for their faith. His
own life was always in danger and often assailed.
We have seen him going westward with an escort,
and even then he did not escape injury. He had
some of his schools and churches encircled by walls
and fortifications for the protection of the inmates.
The great churches stood as the castles of Christ.
* Hist. Ireland,!. p. 203.

SAINT PATRICK. 181

A touching story is told of Gran, his charioteer.
Patrick had overturned the great Mack -stone, the
idol of the Iri>h, and he was travelling into Lein-

ster. For this deed a certain chief, named IWraid.

•

sought revenge. He resolved in fall upon him if
ftitrick ever passed by his fortress. This resolu
tion came to the ear of Oi-an, who seems to have
been in tin- habit of walking beside the gig, that
may have had but one seat. When they came near
the castle, Oran pretended to be ver\ weary, and
his master gave up the scat and to..k the road on
foot. Soon the plotting chieftain hurled a javelin
at the man who was riding pa-t. taking him for the
image-breaker. Oran fell mortally wounded, but
in dying had the sati.-la< -tion of having saved the
life of the master whom he loved by the sacrifice
of his own.

The Leinster men seem to have shown especial
aversion to Patrick and hi- doctrines. They had
driven away Palladius, and their sleeping wrath
was easily aroused. It is told by the later writers
that Patrick went into this province, hoping !ir-t
to win Dunlaing the king, and then the people.
He visited the n.yal ca.-tle of Naas. Two of the
king's sons accepted the gospel. This provoked
the sullen and crafty Foillen, one of the royal offi-

182 SAINT PATRICK.

cers. He laid his plans to rid the court of the hated
teacher of religion. On a day when he saw Pat
rick coming to talk with him he pretended to be
asleep. The visitor entered the room, but detected
the plot to take his life. The wicked man was dis
armed, and probably was secretly thrown into a
prison, where he soon died. This is more likely
than that his feigned repose proved the sleep of
death, as the legend-makers affirm. But the idea
went out among the people that on the approach of
Patrick his eyes were sealed for ever in death, and
hence the proverb, used when a Leinster man
wishes his worst to an enemy : " May his sleep be
like that of Foillen in the castle of Naas."

CHAPTER XI.

PATRICK'S CREED

article- «.f a «rreat BMUl'i faith may in
terest us quite u.- much a.- the acts of his
^ If his belief was sound, his example

A-ill have more force. Saint Patrick lived
in an age when eminent men \\. ectfcd to

announce their creed. He wrote none. This may
go to .-how that then Ireland was not troubled with
the great questions which agitated the Continent.
On that isle, in the north-west of Christendom, no
footing was given to the heresies of Pelagius, who
denied man's native helplessness; and Arius, who
denied the divinity of Christ. It may show that
Patrick had no contact with the Roman world.

But Patrick ^tr-mirly expn— cd hi- doctrines.
We may gather them from the writings which pass
under his name. They en.p out like the granite
in a mountain land. When he plead- or rebukes
or tells the simple story <>»' hi- lite, they gleam
forth as gern^ wa-lind up by the waves. In his

warmest sentences he drives a nail that shines with

IM

184 SAINT PATRICK.

Scripture. And it is worthy of notice that he does
not quote the version of Jerome, which was largely
used in the Roman churches. He quotes the old
Latin Vulgate,* such a translation as he would
likely have found in a Culdee cell if he was there
as a student in his earlier days. The Bible of a
man's youth is preferred in his old age.

All that has come down to us from his pen, ex
cept the hymn, was written in the evening of his
life. He could look back upon the great work
done in a vast field. The glory of God was dear
to his heart; to live for that was his motive.
Tillemont says of the Confession: "It was
written to give glory to God for the great grace
which the author had received, and to assure the
people of his mission that it was indeed God him
self who had sent him to preach to them the gospel,
to strengthen their faith, and to make known to all
the world that the desire of preaching the gospel,
and of having a part in its promises, was the sole
motive which had induced him to go to Ireland.
He had long intended to write, but had deferred
doing so, fearing lest what he wrote should be ill-
received among men because he had not learned
:o write well, and what he had learned of Latin
* Todd'g St. Patrick, pp. 347-349.

SA INT PA TRICK. 185

was still further corrupted by intermixture with
the Irish language. . . . The work is full of good
sense, and even of intellect and fire, and, what is
better, it is full of piety. The saint exhibits
throughout the greatest humility, without lowering
the dignity of his ministry. We see in the tract
much of the character of St. Paul. The author
was undoubtedly well read in the Scriptures." *
He expected that it would be read by better
scholars than himself; perhaps there were such in
In-hind, even among the students whom he had
trained.

Patrick tells us : " I am greatly a debtor to God,
who hath vouched me such great grace that many
people by my means should be born again to God;
and that clergy should be ordained every whert
t<>r the people who have lately come to the faith;
for tin- Lord hath taken them from the ends of the
earth, as lie has promised of old by his prophets:
' The ( Jentiles shall mine t<> thcc from the ends of
the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers hav»
inherited lie.- and vanity, and there i> no profit in
them/ Anda^ain: kl have given thee as a li-ht
to the Gentiles, that thoii inaye-t be for salvation,
even unto the end of the earth/ And there I

* Tillemont, A S. Patrick, xvi. p. 461.

186 SAINT PATRICK.

desire to wait for the promise of him who never
faileth ; as he promiseth in his gospel : ' They shall
come from the east, and from the west, and shall
sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob ;'
as we believe that believers shall come from the
whole world/'

The results of his work appeared astonishing as
he reviewed it : " Whence comes it that in Hiberio*
those who never had any knowledge of God, and
u j) to the present time worshipped only idols and
abominations, are lately become the people of the
Lord, and are called the sons of God? The sons
of Scotsf and daughters of Christians appear now
as monks and virgins of Christ — even one blessed
Scottish lady, of noble birth and of great beauty,
who was adult, and whom I baptized." Who this
lady was we know not, but we are told that, of her
own accord, she devoted herself to a more secluded
life in order to " live nearer to God." Others did
the same, even at the cost of enduring persecution
from their nearest relatives.

His thoughts took somewhat the form of a
oreed when writing of the great benefits that God

* His name for Ireland.

f The Northern Irish were called Scots. The references to
monfa will be explained hereafter.

SAINT PATRICK. 187

gave him in the land of his captivity. He says:
" After we have been converted and brought to God
we should exalt and confess his wondrous works
before every nation under the whole heaven, that
there is none other God, nor ever was, nor shall In:
hereafter, than God the Father unbegotten, without
beginning, from whom is all beginning, upholding
all things.

" And his Son Jesus Christ, whom we acknow
ledge to have been always with the Father before
the beginning of the world, spiritually with the
Father, in an ineffable manner begotten, before all
lining; and by him were all things made,
visible aiul invisible.

"Ami /"ing made man, and having overcome
death, he was received into heaven unto the
Fath. i ; and [the Father] hath given unto him all
jx.wer, above every name, of things in heaven and
tin,, rth, and things under the earth, that

even t.in-uc .-h<nild confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord and Gud ;

"Whom we believe and look for his comin</ ;
who is soon about to be the Judge of quick and
dead: who will render unto every man according
to hi.- work ;

" And who hath poured into us abundantly the

188 SAINT PATRICK.

gift of the Holy Ghost, and the pledge of immor
tality ; who maketh the faithful and obedient to
become the sons of God the Father, and joint heirs
with Christ ;

" Whom \ve confess and worship, one God in the
Trinity of the Sacred Name."

Such is the brief summary of doctrines in the
Confession. It was not intended to be a full creed.
We shall find in the Epistle to Coroticus a hearty
expression of other doctrines, so uttered that they
might burn upon the consciences of bad men or be
a comfort to certain disciples in captivity.

It appears that one evening there was a multi
tude witnessing a baptism. A goodly number of
converts, clad in white robes, were at the fountain.
The minister, who seems not to have been Patrick,
was baptizing them. Very soon after a band of
pirates rushed upon them. Some were slain while
the drops of water were scarcely dried from their
foreheads. Others were carried away in their white
robes. The people were affrighted and ran for
their lives. Houses were plundered and almost
every sort of outrage committed. The captives
were taken to the sea-shore, put into boats, borne
away to a foreign land and sold into slavery. The
man who did this act of villainy, or in whose name

SA INT PA TRICK.

it was done, was Coroticus. He seems to have
been a petty prince of Wales, perhaps Caradoc,
from whom the county of Cardigan is said to
derive its name. Some of the Scots and Picts
seem to have aided in the nefarious busine— .

The heart of Patrick was touched with pity
for the captives, and filled with indignation against
the marauders. He wrote a protest against the
merciless deed. He chose wise and earnest men
and sent them to the cruel prince. One of them
he calls " a venerable presbyter, whom I taught
from infancy." He must have been worthy of the
delicate mission. Perhaps he \va< lii-ni^nus. Taking
their boat, tin -«• m« -n went to Coroticus, who pro
fessed to be a Christian ! They presented the letter
of the man who styled himself" Bishop in Ireland."

" What ri'_rht has he to reprove me?" we hear
the prince say haughtily. " He is not my bishop."

" But have mercy on the poor people," is the en
treaty of the venerable presbyter. " Be so good as
to i-' -me of the plunder and set free t tu

ba pti/ed captives."

;iy with vou ! " we seem to hear the la\vle->
chietVtin reply. " Tln-y were all taken by the
rijiht- »!' war. It i> to., late to plead for them;
they have been sold, and I have thr money for

190 SAINT PATRICK.

them. Get you gone ! You Irish are fit only to
be slaves. In five minutes I'll put chains about
your necks, offer you in the market and find what
you are worth."

" God will bring you into judgment — "

"Away, away! Officers, take these insolent
Irishmen out of my presence."

In some such manner the embassy was dismissed
with scoffs and ridicule. Contempt was thrown
upon the letter of Patrick, which has not been pre
served. The wise men had to return, carrying only
disappointment to many parents and relatives, who
had hoped to see the boats returning loaded with
their goods, their children and their friends.

Again Patrick took his pen. He wrote another
protest. He sent it out into the world, hoping that
it would drop down like a shaft of lightning upon
Coroticus, and drift as an olive branch to the
captives. He says: "It is the custom of the
Roman and Gallican Christians to raise large sums
of money for the redemption of baptized captives
from the Franks and other pagans. But you, a
professing Christian, slay the disciples of Christ
or you sell them to heathen nations. You hand
over the members of Christ to the abominations of
the heathen."

SAINT PATRICK. 191

Then addressing the hirelings of the chieftain,
he sa>c: *l Patrick, an ignorant sinner, and yet
appointed a bishop in llibernia, and dwelling
ationg the barbarous tribes bcrau.-c of my love
to God, I write these letters with my own hand to
be tarne to the soldiers of the tyrant : I say not to
my fellow-citizens, nor to the I'd low- citizens of the
Roman saints, but to the < <>- workers of the devil,
as their evil deeds prove. For they live in death ;
they are the associates of the apostate Scots and
Picts ; they fatten on the blood of innocent Chris
tians, multitudes of whom I have begotten and
confirmed in Christ. . . . Does not the divine
mercy which I cherish oblige me to defend even
those Avho once made me a captive, and put to the
massacre the servants of my father? For this peo
ple are eonfc^ing their sins and turning to the
Lord. Let your souls melt when I praise the
courage of the girls whom you insulted and stole
away. Those delicate children "I" mine in the faith,
how tlicv defended thrm-« lv< - from outrage!
What heroic courage against their unworthy
masten !

"Tin- Church weep- and wails <»v«-r her sons nnd
over IMT daughters, whom tin- -won] has not yet
slain, but who are exiled in far-off' lands when

192 SAINT PATRICK.

openly and shamelessly abounds. There Christian
freemen are reduced to slavery, and that by the
most unworthy, most infamous and apostate Picts.
O most beauteous and beloved children ! I can but
cry out to you; I cannot tell what to do with
you ; I am not worthy to give help. The wicked
ness of the wicked hath prevailed over us. We
are become as aliens. Do they believe that you
and us have received one baptism, that we have
one God, our Father ? Perhaps not ; with them it
is a crime that we [ye] are born in Hibernia. . .*

" Have ye not one God ? Why then wrong one
another ? I grieve for myself. But yet I rejoice
that I have not laboured in vain ; not in vain hath
been my pilgrimage here ; only there hath come to
pass this outrage so horrible and unspeakable.

" Thanks be to God, O ye believers and baptized
[ye who have been slain] ! ye have gone from this
world to Paradise. I behold you. You have be
gun to journey whither there shall be no night, nor
sorrow nor death: ye shall exult as lambs let loose:
" If Coroticus had at that time succeeded in banishing the
Gwyddil, or Irish settlers in South Wales, and in the frenzy of
victory had pursued them to Ireland, it is not unnatural that
IIH followers should regard every native of Ireland as an enemy,
and treat him as such." In his sympathy Patrick identifies
himself with the captives.— Todd,St. Patrick, 360.

si 1ST PATRICK. 193

ye -hall trample upon the ungodly ; they shall be
•p a-hcs under your feet. Ye shall reign with
ap'.-tlrs and prophets and martyrs. Ye shall re
ceive everla.-ting kingdoms. . . . Without an- dogs
and sorcen-r- and murderers and liars, whose por
tion i- the lake of eternal lire. . . .

"Thus -hall -inner- and the ungodly perish from
the face of the Lord; but the righteous, in gnat
joy, shall feast with Christ, shall judge the hea
then, and >hall rule over ungodly kings for ever
and ever. . . *

"I testify before God and his holy angels, that
it .-hall l>e so as my ignorance* has said. Tin-"
are not my words; they are the words of God, of
his apostles and prophets, who never lie. I have
translated them into Latin.f They who believe
shall be saved, but whoso believeth not shall be
damned. God hath spoken. I therefore earnestly
p'ljnest of everv our \vh<> may become the bearer
of thi- letter, that it be withheld from none, but
let ii l»e n-ad I .."•!'.. re all t he people, and in the pres-

• Mea impcritii, th.it i*, "I myself." It was the frequent
mode of speaking with thi* humble man. He in concluding

tin- «'!

t Had he consult! d the original tongues, HO aa to be sure of

the meaning, and then made a new tran*lntion ?
II

194 SAINT PATRICK.

ence of Coroticus himself. May God inspire them
to return to a better mind toward him, so that even,
though late, they may repent of their impious
deeds. They have been the murderers of the
brethren of the Lord. But let them repent and set
free the baptized captive women. Thus shall God
count them worthy of life, and they shall be made
whole here and for ever. Peace* to the Father, to
the Son and to the Holy Ghost. Amen."

Thus closes the stirring letter; now revealing
flashes of lightning, and again the gentle sunbeams
of love. Its effect we know not. The proud
chieftain was worthy of only the silence of history.
No return is mentioned of a single captive. Bond
age was to them a severe school, but it was the
school of God. It may have been blessed to them as
it had once been to the great and good man who had
brought the gospel to their native land. It may
have waked them to a higher life. Perhaps their
baptism had been little more than outward and
nominal — a thing too common throughout Christen-

* Perhaps he meant "glory," or he may have meant it as
a prayer that Coroticus might repent and find peace with God.
No revenge burns in the noble epistle: with all his tremendous
voice of justice Patrick breathed the invitations of mercy.
Here was love to an enemy.

SAINT PATRICK. 195

dom in that age. It had ushered them into the
Church ; but now they may feel the need of " the
washing of regeneration;" now they may seek
union with Christ. Perhaps many of them were a
blessing to others. Some little maiden may have
proved as an angel unawares in the house of a
Pictish Naaman. Some youth may have thought
how Ireland once had a slave who had become her
spiritual deliverer ; and why might not the captive
among a barbarous people serve the Lord so well
that his master should ask the way of happiness
and life ? Bondsmen have been employed by the
K- 'Icemer to set nations free.

CHAPTER XII.

THE CHURCH OF SAINT PATRICK.

HAT was the Church built up by Saint
Patrick? its form, its offices, its term of
existence? To this inquiry we set our
selves in the interest of historic truth, and
not in that of any party. Christ was more to him
than the Church ; of the one we know what he
believed — of the other it is hard to learn what he
thought. He was not the high churchman of any
denomination.

The late Dr. Murray well said: "There has
been much learned and rather sharp controversy
as to the polity or external form of the Church in
the days of Patrick. The Prelatists -claim him as
archbishop, as having received orders in a direct
line from the apostles, and as thus transmitting
orders to them. To believe this leads necessarily
to the belief of the monkish fables in reference to
him. This claim it is impossible to establish,
whether it be true or false in itself. Some Inde
pendents would claim him as a noble Congrega-

196

SAINT r.\ TiircR. 197

tionali-t; among: whom, wo believe, stands the
eloquent and warm-hearted Mr. King, of Dublin;
whilst other-, nf tin- Belfast school, would claim
him as a Pn-bytrriau. That he was not a Papist
is certain; but what he was in polity is very un
certain. It is most likely he troubled him-elf Un
less upon that subject than do many in our day,
in ing it his great work to preach the gospel.
But when we read that ' Ireland was full of village
bMiops1 — that in one county, Meath, there were
nearly thirty bMmps — that at one period there
were about three hundred bishops in the kinLrdnin,
we may reasonably conclude that parochial bishop.
were the only ones kimwn to the primitive Chi i —
tianity of Ireland, and that every parish was a
bi-lmprie. But there is darkness sufficient resting
upon tlie annals of those early times to forbid
Maii-ni on the «»m> hand, and there are now
and then the «jlrainiiiL: nut nf irreat principles sntli-
cient to i'm-in the ba-i- nf thenrie< nn the nther."*

\\'r liave M0B vi»unLr men i«.ll«»u in-r Patrick as
Btodente and helper^. Thu- they WOT8 trained i'nr
ini-~inn:irv \\<>rk. It wa< imt nccc.— ^ary t<> -end
them t:ir away to the ('..ntinent to be educated,
where the .-yMcm nf -di.mU \\:i- licminin^ mo-
* Ireland :itnl tin- Iri-li.

198 SAINT PATRICK.

nastic. There were places for retired study at
home. The old Culdee system had its cells, which
grew into colleges. There is reason to think that
Patrick found this system in Ireland and adopted
its main features. The cell, or kil, seems to have
been at first a refuge from danger and a resort for
prayer; then a fixed abode for studious men. It
grew into a church or a college ; often it became a
religious centre, whither the people flocked for
worship, teaching and consolation. In the course
of years a town grew up around many a prominent
cell. We find very many names as memorials of
the ancient kil; such as Kildare, the church or
cell of the oak ; Kill-fine, the church of the tribe ;
Cill-Chiarain, the cell of Ciaran, or Kieran.

The story of Ciaran is that he went into a dense
wood of Munster, made him a cell, played with
the wild animals around him, studied and lived
near to God. He drew to him young men of
serious minds and taught them; the school en
larged into a monastery ; a city arose on the spot.
It is not certain when he lived. Some make him a
bishop in Ireland thirty years before Saint Patrick ;
others, a child to whom the great missionary gave
his blessing on one of his journeys ; and others
place him in the sixth century.

SAINT PATRICK. 199

Here is probably a specimen of the school- in
the days of Saint Patrick. The students v,
called monk> he.-ause they led a secluded life.
But a young monk of the fifth century w:is a very
different man from an old monk of the twelfth
century. He was usually a young man preparing
to become a mi— ionary. His head \vas shorn.
and lie won- a div-s peculiar to his class. If he
V tint fond of a secluded life, he remained at
tin- cell fur long years, or he went forth into de
forests to found one for himself. This often oc
curred in later times. But we do not think Saint
Patrick allowed such men to take their n-i.
They must prepare for work in the world, and
when prepared go forth into the great field to sow
ami n-ap for the Master.

It appears that Patrick often visited these
, which might not be called monasteries.
iv- illations were very different from niona--
tic rules. They were little else than would now
be demanded in a college where the inmate- were

reijlliivd to .-UppulM t hein-elve-. " Although they

ob-n-ve.l a eei-iain institute," says .lamie^.n, "yet,
iii the aeenuut- <;iven of them, we eammt overlook
thi- remarkable di~t im-t ion betwern them and
\vhi«-h ;uv pn.prrly m«.na-tie. that

200 SAINT PATRICK.

they were not associated for the purpose of observ
ing this rule. They might deem certain regula
tions necessary for the preservation of order, but
their great design was, by communicating instruc
tion, to train up others for the work of the minis
try. Hence it has been justly observed that they
may be more properly viewed as colleges, in which
various branches of useful learning were taught,
than as monasteries. These societies, therefore,
were in fact the seminaries of the Church both in
North Britain and in Ireland."*

When Patrick found in these schools men
qualified for the work, he was ready to say, " The
Lord hath need of thee." He had the care of
churches that needed pastors. He ordained them
as bishops. Thus he laid his hands on the gentle
Benignus and placed him over the church of
Armagh. There the good pastor fed the flock for
many years. He travelled widely, and gave
"splendid proofs of his zeal for religion and his
anxious desire for the conversion of his country
men." But he went to his rest a few years before
the great man who had led him forth from his
father's house when a youth. There is nothing
but manufactured evidence to show that he ever
* Jamieson, Hist. Culdeee, p. 33.

SAINT PATRICK. 201

had charge of more than one church, or that he
had a diocc-c ami an array of clergy under him.

Thus, too, Patrick, when travelling along the
banks of the Litfey, came upon Fiacc, whom he
had once met as a young hard at the court of Tarali.
The poet had been studying for the ministry. I It-
was ordained a bishop and placed over the church
of Sletty. At a later day imagination set him over
all Leinster. He, no doubt, had a general interest
in the little bands of Christians in that region, and
made many a missionary tour, as many a zealous
pastor now does in a new country. But this does
not prove that he had a diocese. He seem> to
have been a good husband, a kind father, a learned
man and the teacher <>f many disciples. It does
not appear that he persuaded his former tutor,
Dubtach, the converted bard, to preach the gospel.
But this eminent man breathed into Celtic poetry
the name of Christ. Druid songs were changed to
Christian hymns. The pairan lyre became a solemn
psalterv, -iviii'j it- notes to holy psalms. An old
author Bays that when once blessed and transformed,
the SOIl<r- "I" the hard- beeame BO -wed that the
angels of God leaned down from heaven to li-tcn ;
and this i- why the harp of the hard- ha- contiimed
to be the -yml»o] and emhla/oiiry of Ireland.

202 SAINT PATRICK.

When we go back as nearly as history will carry
us to the days of Saint Patrick, we find that the
weight of evidence justifies the following con
clusions :

1. Men were ordained bishops per saltum, that
is, without passing through other clerical orders.
They had not first to be deacons and priests.* A
young man might be ordained a bishop, just as
now a student is ordained a presbyter, thus given
the highest office known to Presbyterianism.

2. Men were thus ordained by a single bishop.
It seems that Patrick often used this power alone.
It began as a necessity, perhaps, when he was the
only bishop in Ireland, and was continued after his
example. But this may not have been the only
rule of ordination. Even if it were, it would not
be against one form of church government more
than another, for in no Church is it allowable for
one bishop to ordain another, whatever may be
understood by that title of office.

3. Men were ordained bishops without being
placed over any particular church. They had not
the oversight of churches or clergy. They were
evangelists, missionaries, travelling preachers and

*Todd's St. Patrick, ch. i. ; which may be consulted on most
of the folloving points.

SAINT PATRICK.

203

superintendents of schools. It is admitted by

PrelatiMs that they were <• bishops without sees or

dJoee* wandering bi.-hops." This class became

verv numerous in Ireland.

Early in the twelfth century, Anselm of En-land
complained thus of the state of u flairs in Irelaiul :
" It is said that hi-hops in your country are elected
at random, and appointed without any fixed place
of episcopal jurisdiction ; and that a bishop, like a
prie>t, i- ordained by a single bishop." Such had
been the state of things since the time of Patrick,
who was eager to have a strong force of mission
aries in the lidd; and he thought it important for
them to hold the highest oflice and be the e<tual
of himself. It cannot be shown that he was ever
anything but a "bishop in Ireland," as he styled
him.-elf in his laM days.

4. A single church had its bi.-hop ; probably
every church had one of its own. St. Bernard in
the twelfth century thought thi- OQ€ -iu'n of " a
making void of religion," that "every particular
church -li.iuld have its particular bi>hop." I'.ut
Patrick h.-ld a difl'erent view. Hi- rule -erins to
have been to place over every church a pa-tor, who
was in oflice c<pial to him-elf. Hence Nennius
says that he founded three hundred and sixtv-fivti

204 SAINT PATRICK.

churches, and placed over them three hundred and
sixty-five bishops.

5. The bishops outnumbered the churches. " It
is, therefore, an undoubted fact," says Dr. Todd,
" that the number of bishops in Ireland was very
great in early times, in proportion to the popula
tion, as well as absolutely; although we are not
bound to believe that Saint Patrick consecrated
' with his own hand7 three hundred and fifty
bishops, founded seven hundred churches and
ordained three thousand priests."

Nor are we bound to believe that there were so
many places as are reported where seven bishops
dwelt together as a brotherhood. Probably there
were a few such in a later century, but hardly one
hundred and forty-one of them ! Nine hundred
and eighty-seven bishops thus taking their ease !
The monkish annalists were death upon prelatic
theories.

" There is abundant evidence," says Dr. Todd,
" to show that two or more contemporary bishops
frequently lived together during the early period
[of the Irish Church], in the same town, church or
monastery." But this was doubtless some centuries
after Patrick's death, when the monastic system
was in full vigour. In his day the settled and

SAINT PATRICK. 205

travelling bishops seemed to have been greater in
number than the churches. Of the latter it is not
possible to make any estimate.

6. The bishop had no diocese. He was a pastor or
missionary. In the afternoon of the sixth century
it was enough for Columba to be ordained a bishop
in order to qualify him for the great work before
him in Scotland. Nor was any higher office ever
conferred upon him. So Columban, who went into
1 MI rope, is called by the same author a presbyter,
and in another sentence a bishop, as if they were
the very same office. The bishops who are repre
sented to have been placed over dioceses by Pat
rick belong to a later day. Even the four whom
some have thought preceded him, and others to
have laboured with him, seem to belong to the
sixth or seventh century. They were Ciaran, Ailbe,
I bar and Declan. Perhaps the first two were co-
workers of Patrick. Montalembert admits that
" t he constitution of dioce-e- and pari-ln--, in In
land as in Scotland, does not go farther bnc-U than
to the twelfth century/'

7. Patrick was a " l»i.-li«»p in In-laml," and not the
primate over it. lie had up<»n him, in a very im
portant BflQfft U IM<> (>an' "*' a" tnr <'huivln>," «jiiit«-
as Calvin had u general superintendence of all the

206 8 A INT PA TRICK.

Protestant churches of France. But was Calvin
an archbishop? He was a presbyter, the equal
only in office of his brethren.

It was very easy for writers, centuries after Pat
rick's time, to represent the great central churches
as diocesan, the prominent pastors as prelatic
bishops, the schools as monasteries, female teachers
as the founders of nunneries, and over them all one
great chief, one archbishop, Saint Patrick. But of
all this we do not believe a word. The old Irish
term ard-epscop only meant an eminent or cele
brated bishop, as ard-file meant a chief poet, or
ard-righ, an eminent king. It did not signify an
archbishop in the modern sense.* It might have
been applied to any well-known and influential
pastor.

We may well believe that several synods were
held by Patrick and his co-presbyters. But it is
very doubtful whether he published any " canons"
over his name ; certainly not the collections as they
now appear. If he wrote any laws for the Church,
the Romanists of a later age foisted in certain rules
to serve their purpose. Thackeray says of the
canons of the first synod, held about the year 460,
" Although some marks of superstition may be
* Todd's St. Patrick, p. 16.

SA 1 \T I* A TRICK. 207

traced in them, and some leaning to the Church of
K<>me, we cannot hdp being struck by the sim
plicity, force and sense which pervade them."*

Tin- -trikinjx part- may have come from Patrick,
tin- n->t from tho-e who meddled with all that he
It-It behind him.

It i.- in connect ion with some of these supposed
synod- that we hear of Auxilius and Iserninus.
The story i-, that they came as bishops to assist
Patri'-k. Who >ciit them i- not told in the Ulster
Anna!-. The later account i- that they went from
Home with him to Ireland. If their Roman mis
sion ha- DO better foundation than his, we may give
little credit to their e\i-tcnoe, and yet not be guilty
of taking their live-.

Patrick mii-t have hud a very great influence over
ihe Iri-h ( 'liuivh. He had a splendid ^ift of man
agement. He was able to keep all the forces at
work. Whatever his official power, there is no
proof that he <ravc any account of his ,,M. of it to
the court ol ROOM, "He did not apply to the
papal see to have the election of the bi-hops ap
pointed by him confirmed ; nor is there extant any
:pt from the • apo-toliu' see to him, or any cpi.—
tie to Koine. . . . We bare no recorder hint of
* Anc. Brit. ii. p. 167.

208 SAINT PATRICK.

his having kept up any communication with
Rome." We are quoting a writer, who thinks that
the existence of so many missionary and pastor-
bishops in the early Irish Church was an error, yet
he says, " It was an error into which a very
zealous man, who thought he could not have enough
of chief pastors and shepherds of Christ's flock
was likely to fall ; but it was one that could not
for a moment have been tolerated by Rome. Had
she known it [or had any right to rule], she would
doubtless have immediately put a stop to such an
irregularity. The obvious inference is, that she
was not made acquainted with the state of the in
fant Church in Ireland, and therefore that St. Pat
rick acted independently of the papal authority."*
In order to explain this it has been assumed that
he had no need to give an account of himself, for
" he was made apostolic legate over Ireland." But
St. Bernard informs us that " Gillebert, bishop of
Limerick, in the twelfth century, was the first who
discharged the duties of apostolic legate in Ire-

* Kev. W. G. Todd, Church of St. Patrick, pp. 29-36. Mr.
Todd has fully examined the subject, and he also says : " I have
not been able to discover any fair instance of a bishop be
ing elected to an Irish see by the interference of the pope,
from the mission of St. Patrick until after the English inva
sion." See also Lanigan, ii. 170.

SAINT PATRICK.

land." Thus falls to the ground the claim that
Patrick aet< ••! in the name or interest of Rome.

There is some reason to think that the Church
of Saint Patrick was more nearly presbyterial than
<-o M. _.T« -ational or prelatic. It was certainly not
papal. It gradually adopted many errors, but it
did not submit to the Pope of Rome until the
twelfth century.

It grew, extended and became a vast power in
the world. Its schools became justly renowned.
They attraen-d students from distant realms. The
pupils of a single school were often numbered by
thousands. The course of instruction embraced
all the M-iences then taught, but more especially
the Mudy of the Holy S'riplures.

Thus the work of church extension, commenced
on a large scale by Patrick, was carried on by faith
ful followers, until, before the beginning of the
ninth century, the whole land had been studded
with churches, colleges and scriptural ^-hools, and
Irish rhri-tian- wen- iiimoii- over Kurop,' ior
lean. in-, piety and missionary zeal. The Irish,
who still were known by the name of Scots, were
the only divines who refused to dishonour their
reason by submitting it implicitly to the dictates

of authority. .Naturally .subtle and sagacious, they
14

210 SAINT PATRICK.

applied their philosophy, such as it was, to the
illustration of the truths and doctrines of religion
— a method which was almost generally abhorred
and exploded in all the nations. They were lovers
of learning, and distinguished themselves, in these
times of ignorance, by the culture of the sciences,
beyond all other European nations. Owing to the
eminence of the Irish in science and literature, and
to the steadfastness with which they held fast the
profession of their faith without wavering, Ireland
was regarded at this period, throughout Europe,
as the school of the West and an isle of saints.*

Camden says : " The Saxons of that age flocked
thither, as to the great mart of learning, and this
is the reason why we find this saying so often in
our [English] writers, 'Such an one was sent over
into Ireland to be educated.'f No wonder that
Aldhelm, abbot of Malmesbury, exclaimed, in a
letter to Ealfrid, who had spent six years studying
in Ireland, ( Why should Ireland, whither students
are transported in troops by fleets, be exalted with
such unspeakable advantages ?' >;

The rapid extension and singular prosperity of
the early Irish Church is to be attributed, in no

* Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. Cent. ix. ; Ussher, chap. yi.
f Britannia, Art. Ireland.

SAINT PA TRICK. 211

small degree, to its freedom from foreign control,
and tn tin- excellence of its system of church
government, "liishops were appointed without
consulting K,.me. They consecrated bishops f,,r
foreign mi — ion-; ainl these missions, in many in-
>tance-, opposed the mandates of Rome. For
more than live centuries after the death of St.
Patrick we scarcely have any vestiges of a connec
tion between Koine and Ireland. Councils and
synod.- were held from time to time, in order to
hring the Church of Ireland to the same subordi
nation to Kome as those of every other part of
Kurope."* It is thus evident that in thing-
spiritual and ecclesiastical they refused obedience
alike to pope and king, holding that the L«r<f
< '////>/ w sole King and fiead of His Church.
It would require a volume to do justice to the
mi-ions of the Church of Saint Patrick.
We should have to follow Columba, as he revived
fchesystem of the Culdees in Scotland, and made
lona a great northern light casting its rays over all
* aHalloran. Rev. W. G. Todd, a prelatist, in his Church
•"'inii.-ln-s satisfactory t-vid.-iuv th:it th.- hi, Imp
of Rome did not appoint, elect, consecrate, nor confirm the
l.Mi-.psof Inhm.l, froin the lifih t,i th,- twelfth n-ntury ; n«.r
did lie sail u.-i, ii,, mi sions of the Irish Church, of which
that of Columha waa tlie lir.-i, to anotht-r country.

212 SA INT PA TR ICK.

Europe. We should have to trace Columban and
Gallus marching, with weary feet, through Gaul,
up the Rhine, over the Alps or into .Italy, found
ing monasteries, rearing churches, enduring storm
and cold, persecuted by kings and lifting neglected
tribes out of barbarism. We should find Vir-
gilius at Salzburg, in the far-off wilds of the
Tyrol, not only teaching the gospel, but also
watching the motions of the planets and conclud
ing that the earth was round, and that on the
other side, beneath his feet, there might be nations
of men. His doctrine of the antipodes brought
him into trouble with the pope. We have scarcely
begun the list. In the year 565 the first mission
ary left the shores of Ireland. For nearly three
centuries companies of learned and pious men,
from the colleges of Ireland, continued to go forth
to preach Christ in the neighbouring countries.
In North and South Britain, and over all the
Continent, they went everywhere preaching the
gospel. Rejecting purgatory, the worship of
images, the intercession of saints, and transub-
stantiation — doctrines unknown in the Church of
St. Patrick, and only recently introduced into the
Church of Rome — they were always oppceed by
the Roman Catholic clergy, and often suffered per-

SA INT PA TRICK. 213

secution ; still they held fast the truth, and con-
tinuiMl, till 840, to preach to tin- inhabitants of
( '"iitinental Kurope the very same Gospel preached
by St. Patrick to the wondering native- o{' Ireland.*

Concerning the theology of thi- period Xeander
write-: "In the Jri.-h Church, 1'roin the time o['
its origin, a bolder spirit of inquiry ha<l been pro-
pagated, which cau-ed many a reaction against the
papacy; and as in the Irish monasteries, not only
the Latin, hut al-o the Creek lathers had been
studied, BO it naturally came about that from that
-ehool i--ued a iinnv original and free development
of theology than was to be elsewhere li.und, and
was thenee pi", .pa-at ei 1 to other laud.-."

In the year 807 the Danes invaded Ireland.
They were a fierce and warlike people, and treated
the vaixjui-hed with horrid cruelty. Themselves
WOnhippen of heathen Lrod-, they cou-idered it a
religions duty to exterminate the Chri-tian-. \-\>r
two hundred years the Iri-h were en^a^'d in
deadly eonlliet with these -avap- liordrs. In the
b^inning of the eleventh centuiy the -torm -uh-
sided. There was a temporary calm. But already
two eeiuiirie- of civil war had produced their
melancholy re-ults. The jrn.:lt Bohoob and colleges
* WIN.. i,, Church of St. Patrick, p. 59.

214 SAINT PATRICK.

had been plundered, burned, and their inmates
slaughtered or dispersed. The churches were in
ruins and the flocks scattered. The nati >nal re
cords and many ancient documents deposited in
the monasteries had perished in the flames ; the
bonds of society were loosened and social anarchy
prevailed. Though learning and religion speedily
revived, and schools and churches began to rise
from their ashes, yet, owing to disunion and many
irregularities, the Irish were less able than before
to resist the insidious inroads of papal influence.

The Romish bishops of the Danes in Ireland
used all their influence to induce the native Irish
to adopt Roman Catholic doctrines and modes of
worship, and to acknowledge the authority of the
Roman pontiff. When it is remembered how com
pletely the early Irish Church had been disorgan
ized by two centuries of civil war, it will not seem
strange that many of its members proved unfaith
ful to the old religion of their fathers, and accepted
the new doctrines of Rome, lately brought into
Ireland by these foreign bishops. Thus the Irish
Church fell away from her ancient fai ch, and before
a century had elapsed measures were taken to de
prive her of her ancient independence.*
* Church of St. Pat-ick, pp. 60-67.

SAINT PATRICK. 215

The English invaded and took possession of
Iivluml in tin- year 1172. No sooner had the
pope heard of tlie success of the English expedi
tion than he wrote to King Henry a letter of con
gratulation. "It is not (he wrote) without very
lively sensations of .-ati-tii< -timi that we have
learned i.f the expedition yon have made in the
true -pint of a pious kin- against the nation of
the Iri-.li, and of the magnificent and astonishing
triumph over a realm into which the princes of
ROOM never pushed their army. Having a con
fident hope in the fervour of your devotion, we
believe it would he your desire, not only to con-
serve hut to t.rtnnl //"' i>ririlcges of the Church of
Rwn< . and, as in duty hound, to establish //>>• juri*-
tli.'fh.ii irln ,-• .•<!,> has none at present; we, therefore,
earm-ily exhort yonr Highness to preserve to us
the privileges belonging to St. Peter in that land."
It l.e-an to appear that there were really two
. church e- in Ireland. One was the Church of
Rome, with it- papal machinery, tti iVu-r'- pence,
its strong arm to puni>h tln^e who refused to adopt,
tlie new system, and it- swarms of Kn^li-h nmnks
as the managers of its affairs. They to,.k «\
thinir into their hands — schools, moua>teries,
churches and pari>he>. Tlie p.veruinem wa

216 SAINT PATRICK.

their side. The invading king won the chieftains,
and the chieftains placed the yoke on the clansmen.
It was thenceforth a misfortune for one to have
Irish blood in his veins ; it was a crime to have a
love for the truly ancient Church in his heart.
" The real origin of Irish popery is the English
invasion under Henry II." * Of this reign Hume
says, " The Irish had been imperfectly converted to
Christianity ; and what the pope regarded as the
surest mark of their imperfect conversion, they
followed the doctrines of their first teachers, and
had never acknowledged any subjection to the see
of Rome." The chiefs became zealous papists.
The parliament was Roman Catholic ; the bishops
were all appointed by the pope, and they had seats
in the national councils ; the kings were all " most
dearly beloved sons of the pope, devout sons of the
Church," whose will was law and power was
supreme.

The other was the Church of Saint Patrick,
greatly changed indeed, both in form and doctrine,
but yet asserting her independence of Rome. It
was a remnant saved /rom the general wreck. It
endured severe persecution. " The Church of the
native Irish was discountenanced and ignored by
* Soames, Lat. Church, p. 59.

SAINT PATRICK. 217

Rome, as well as by England. It consisted of the
old Irish clergy and inmates of the monasteries,
who had not adopted the English manners or
language, and who were therefore dealt with as
rebels, and compelled to seek for support from the
charily or devotion of the people. Many of tli re
took refuge in foreign countries;" others still
1 intend in places when- they waited for the dawn
of a better day.* Then centuries later came the
tt Reformation. It revived the old spirit.
Many received the gospel anew, and entered into
the Reformed churches of England or of Scotland,
and to our times there has been a force of staunch
Protestants in Ireland, strongest in the northern
count ie-, where Saint Patrick seems to have laid
the nniM enduring foundations.

•an<re reversals occur in history, and one of the
strangest i>,thut the I ri>h people, who owed nothing
to IJoinc for their conversion to Christianity, and
who -tniLTu-led lunir a-aiiM her |, retention-, should
now lie. reckoned anionLr JMT ,,io-t >ul>mi>Mve ad
herent^. They once i|ii< ted Saint Patrick a-ain-t
her claims and customs, but now they associate
their devoti,,ii to Patrick with their devotion to
popery. Once he \va> their great prot«>tant and
9t I'.u.irk, pp. -j:;7-244.

218 SAINT PATRICK.

the father of their Church ; now they imagine that
he was a papist, and they acknowledge the father
hood of the man whose toe is kissed in the Vatican.
Ireland hates England. Well she might, if the
reason were that the English king Henry II. sold
her fair domains to the pope and forced her to pay
the Peter's pence. Before that time she might love
England and hate Rome ; now she has reversed her
affection.

Beautiful Ireland, gem of the sea ! Once the
resort of students, the home of scholars, the abode
of poetry, the nursery of orators, the light of
Europe, the isle of saints ! Along thy shores the
voyager coasts, and he pities thee, now so oppressed
by Rome, so darkened by the errors of a perverted
religion, and he thinks what thou wouldst have
continued to be had the Church of Saint Patrick
never been overthrown !

Upon no other land did the darkness of the
Middle Ages more slowly yet more thickly fall ;
over none did ministering angels longer hover to
witness the courage of those who were the last to
yield ; in none was truth more completely crushed
beneath the foreign invader's foot ; from none was
Christian liberty more thoroughly banished ; and
through none did soperbtitioB more boldly walk to

SAINT PATRICK. 219

banish God's holy word, turn history into legends,
erase the early records of an independent Church,
and overthrew the monuments of the ancient faith.
In the course of centuries missionaries dwindled
into monks, earnest pastors into exact! DLL prie-t-,
ancient schools into in<>n:Meri« •- ; the pulpit with
the Bible upon it fell back behind the altar set up for
the mass and the waxen candle; the simple church
was overshadowed by the cathedral; shrines urn-
erected to saints, and devotion took the form of
penance and pilgrimage. Ireland was laid at the
feet nt' ili«' -M-ralled Yirjjfin Marv, 01: whose hmw
was placed the crown that rightly i>clon<:ed only to
Christ. True, a small, hidden remnant remained,
waiting tor the Reformation. They accepted it when
it came. Their sons nobly restored the ancient
faith; their toil now is to bring Ireland back to
the Church of Saint Patrick, so far as it was the
body of Chri-t. In that restoration is the hope of
KrinV deliverance. May Heaven speed the day!

CHAPTER XIII.

LAST DAYS.

E have wandered. As the work was greater
than the man, we have quite lost sight of
him. He lived to see the Druids cast into
the shade. They were no longer the power
behind the throne. Some of them were converted;
others grew sullen and silent. So many of the
kings were at least nominally Christian that these
men of the oaks dared not lift a hand against the
missionaries. They might steal into the deep for
ests and cut the mistletoe, but their barbarous rites
of sacrifice were ended.

The Druids had framed many of the old laws,
and a reform was needed. The tradition is, that
King Laogaire brought together a council of nine
wise men to revise the laws of the realm and
adapt them to the principles of the gospel. Three
kings, three bishops and three bards are said to
have sat together in the work :

The bishops were the most devout Saint Patrick,
The goofl Benignus and the wise Cairnech ;
220

SAINT PATRICK. 221

Tlu k ILL'S were Laogaire, the Irish monarch,

A prince in heraldry exactly skilled;

"With him was joined tin- ever-prudent I>aire,

The warlike king of I 'I-t.-r; and the third

W; i ore, wide Mun-u-r's martial king,

\VhoM- l.,ve I'm- letter- proved his love for ]«

The hards, well ver-ed in tin- antiquities,

faithful huhtach and the sage Feargus,
And Uo-a. ^killed in lon-itm languages:
Tin •-«.- niiH- (cniH'd o\-r tlu- annals and the laws,
Kra-.-d th.- enon, tin- e fleets of fraud
Or ignorance, and hy the test of truth
Made gm id the .-tatutes and the hi.-tories.*

One of tin- works -aid to have come from the

hand.- <>f this committee is the Cain J'tifrtiic, or
u Patrick's Law." I'cfliajK it was begun in his
time, hut the greater part nf it i> ri«licuh>u> <-uough
to liave come i.idv from the nmnks of a later ;i

'!'<> him a tract i- often a.-criU-d cmiccniin^ the
jire-ent world, heaven and hell. It is aptlv enti
tled «Hw Time BabtationB," in the first of which
all the living now dwell, and in one of the other
two every soul niu.t abide after death. It in:
no reii-rence to pur^al«>ry. rj'here i- no proof that

;t MS btUI ilu- till, ,,f tlu- Ix-ahhar na Iluaidh-
ch«.ngahhala, a uhi.h \se .!«, n«,t j.n i, nd in have

dipped. It was highly appn.v d hy the three bardu,
f Todd1-. St. Tatrick, pp. •!>:?, 484.

222 SAINT PATRICK.

he wrote a word of it, nor has it any reference to
the legend of " Saint Patrick's Purgatory," which
has become proverbial. It seems that on a little
island in Loch Erne a monastery grew up at a
later day. When some of the inmates needed to
be punished, they were sent to a cave near by to
bring themselves into a better mood, or pilgrims
were there placed to do penance for their sins. It
was easy to imagine that through the gloomy
cavern were seen the spirits of the unhappy, whose
penance had not been sufficient upon earth. Wild
talcs were told about such visions in order to win
more money from those who were made to believe
that even Christians must be purified by suffering
after death. To give force to the superstition the
monks laid hold of the name of Patrick, which had
a charm for the Irish ear and heart. It was de
clared that he had been in the cave, and there had
a sight of the flames of purgatory.* An English
knight named Owen went thither and shuddered at
what he saw. An English monk wrote a pre
tended history of the place, and the gross impos
ture was supported for centuries by the Anglo-Irish
bishops in Donegal in order to bring over the
people to Rome. It is a specimen of the lying
* Caraden, Britannia, p. 1019.

SAINT PATRICK 223

wonders fixed upon th<> popular Saint Patrick, and
this is the foundation of his purgatory.

He believed that to the living Christian the
Lord was >aying, "This day -halt thou be with
me in Paradise." The true Church of St. Patrick
held that man is naturally ignorant of the true
God, and has nothing of his own but sin; that
( 'hri-t is MiHieicnt lor the salvation of the sinner;
that the sinner is saved by the grace of God, who
brill-.:- him to a MOM of his unbelief through faith
in Chri.-t, and not by his own works; that every
Saved -inner i- eon-trained by love to be holy and
do all the good he can, though he does not thereby
gain any merit ; and that when the believer dies IK;
pa— es immediately into gl.

Great was the love of the people for the zealous
mi — ionary, BO well and BO widely known. Thou
sands looked up to him as a father whose toils had
been endured for their gOOck Not for him-. -If, not
for power, nor for hi- own Lrl<T\ \ had he lived, but
for them and fur hi- Lord. They began to conn r
the year- when lie mint die. They looked upon
his shorn head,f and thought of the crown of

* Wi:.-.,n, Cli. <,f St. I'.-itrirk, ,,. 77.

t He was often rallnl tin- T-nl< :mlt " the shorn crown." It
wan a general custom of that age for the clergy to be marked

224 SAINT PATRICK.

righteousness of which he was wont to speak.
When they saw his gray hairs, they may have
thought, as was said of another venerable man,

When the snow on that mountain-top melts,
There will be a great flood in this valley.

It appears that he worked on to the last. Only
when his strength failed, he ceased to travel along
the trodden paths, visit the churches already
planted, plunge into new forests, enter among wild
tribes, call for lodgings at the castles of warlike
chiefs, expose himself to perils by robbers and
murderers, search out the scattered sheep of his
Master, found new churches, ordain new pastors
and set them to feed the flock of God. But the
time came when he could not ride so far by day,
nor face the storm so bravely, nor so safely risk the
cold, damp air of night. Not so early could he
" rise up at the voice of the bird ;" the silver cord
was loosening, the golden bowl breaking, for he

by the tonsure. Perhaps it meant at first little more than the
white cravat now does with some clergymen. But it became in
(lie seventh century a weighty matter. Then it was found that
the Irish tonsure was quite different from the Roman. In the
Irish the head waa shorn on the front, from one ear over to the
other ; in the Roman the whole top was made bare. The ar
gument then was that the Irish clergy had Saint Patrick for
their example. What grave disputes about trifles !

SAINT PATRICK. 225

going to hLs long home. Old age was creeping
him. He had no earthly home, no family;
no wife to sit by a hearth-tone and talk of the
past scenes on the way of their pilgrimage; no
brothers in Ireland to invite him beneath a roof
where he might take his last sleep, and on some
morning l>< gone, to their surprise and grief; no
bisters to make soft the last couch and press their
warm hands upon his brow as it grew cold; and the
only -pot that he could claim as his own was the
Lriave. Nor to that had he any title-deed; it must
be granted in charity.

The story is, that a gentle voice whispered to him
that lie nm-t soon rest from his labours. It was
that of Brigid, whose name is linked with his in
its vast popularity, and given to thousands of Irish
children. The legend runs that she was u the
da 11- hier of a bard and a beautiful captive, whom
her master had -nit away, like Hagar, at the sug
gestion of hi- wife. Horn in grief and shame, she
W«B received and bapii/ed alon^ with her mother
by the disciples of Saint Patrick. In vain would
her father have taken her back and bestowed her
in marriage when her beauty and wisdom became
apparent. She d.-voird herself to God and the
poor, and went to live in an oak wood, formerly

15

226 SA INT PA TRICK.

consecrated to the false gods. . . . She founded
the first female monastery which Ireland had
known, under the name of Kildare, the cell of the
oak." * It can hardly be denied that in the time
of Patrick some pious women caught the spirit of
a secluded life. Were it not for this, we should
think that Brigid lived at a later age, if indeed she
lived at all. Only a few grains of wheat can be
winnowed from the bushels of chaffy legends
which assume to be her history. Yet it is barely
possible that, with tear-dewed hands, she embroid
ered a shroud for the body of Patrick when he
should die.

The aged missionary could not forget the first spot
of earth which he had secured for his Lord. The
old barn, the Sabhal church, could not be deprived
of his first love. About fifty years had passed
since he had landed on its neighbouring shore.
Thither he went to die in the arms of the brethren,
who there had their home for study and the in
struction of youth. | Their spiritual father of

* Montalembert, Monks of the West, ii. p. 393.

fit was another Patrick, who died at Glastonbury, in Wales.
He seems to have been an abbot at Armagh, and to have died
in 850 from the fury of the Danes. In later times he was con
founded with his great namesake, and pilgrimages were made
by the Irish to Glastonbury on account of Saint Patrick.

SAINT PATRICK. 227

ninety-six years mint have warned them against
an abuse of devotion to studv. and entreated them
to go forth and preach to the ignorant tribes the
name of Jesus. He was n<»t a monk. He did not
believe that monasteries were the chief places
where the Lord dwelt. Perhaps he said as another
advi.-ed in later times, " Go away from God, if you
think he is only at a convent, and you will find
him wherever you labour for him." Such, we think,
would have been the counsel of Patrick.

When he died the sad report went forth afar,
and in all the churches there wa- weeping. What
a privilege to be at his funeral! The clergy
gathered in lar^c number- to lay him in his grave.
We give no credit to the legend that Armagh
-iiarply di-puted with Saul for his body, and that
to settle the mailer it wa- placed in a cart, and the
oxen bidden to Lr<> whither they plra.-cd, taking it
to a plaee now called 1 )o\\ npatrick. When their
father wa- to be buried the -on.- did not all become
fools. They Mirely did not into armie-,

fighting f<>r hi- remain.-, until the oxen decided the
case, and then drop the ti-ud. The -imple lad
seems to be that he was solemnly and honorablv
laid in a grave at Downpatrick, near the spot where
he had tir-t preached the gospel in Ireland.

228 SA INT PA TRICK.

The early Church of Saint Patrick seems not to
have adored his relics. There was no virtue in his
grave, that it should become a sacred place of re
sort. Those Christians kept no lights ever burn
ing upon it. They reared no monument over it
which time could not destroy. To it they made
no pilgrimages, thus to win merit or to gain his
favour as a patron saint. No shrine was there for
the offerings of their penance. Had such been the
case, his grave would certainly have been better
known in after centuries. His name was written
upon their hearts; his monument was the work
that he had done for Christ. No other is so
worthy of a good man, in whatever age he may
live, or land he may toil.

The date of his death is fixed, by the Annals of
Ulster, in the year 493,* nor is there any good
reason to question it. That he was born, baptized
and called from earth on a Wednesday is a mer*
tradition, framed to suit the Koman theories. The
seventeenth of March is observed as "Saint
Patrick's Day," but the day of his decease none
can determine. It was a cunning artifice of Rome
to seize upon the names of eminent Christians and
claim them as her "saints." Even the apostles
* Thus also Ussher, Anc. Irish ; Cave, Scrip. Eccl.

SAINT PATRICK. 229

were taken by her craft, and their names enrolled
upon her calendar, as if they had been one in faith
with every Boniface and Gregory. Nor was this
the wor*t. Tin-so "saints" came to be adored. The
pope declared that they were worthy objects of
general w«n>hip, and prayers were addressed to
them as intercessors with God. Thus Patrick was
raptured by Roman hands, and set up as an idol
for the people to adore. In one of the Irish
Psalters he is mentioned as

Tin- divint Saint Patrick, who possessed
Tin- lir>t |il:ic«: in the Irish < alrndar,
And was the guardian angel of the isle.

And this mint-worship is not a folly of the pa-t,
when there was some excuse for ignorance. It is
a -in of the pre-cnt, and in our own land. It is
approved by the highest authorities of the Roman
('hnreh in America. Those who offer " The Litany
of Saint Patrick" repent these wonl-: "Saint
Patrick, ap'Mle of Ireland, model of bishops,
profoundly humble, con-iimed with /«-al, example
of charity, glory of Ireland, instructor <,f little
OlMf, "in- powerful protector, our COIUJKI
advocate ! pray for The " Novena to Saint

1'atriek" is 0T«B WOrMJ for in it are thc-e peti
tion-: "Glorion, Saint Patrick! receive my

230 SAINT PATRICK.

prayers, and accept the sentiments of gratitude and
veneration with which my heart is filled toward
thee. . . . O charitable shepherd of the Irish
flock ! who wouldst have laid down a thousand
lives to save one soul, take my soul and the souls
of all Christians under thy especial care, and pre
serve us from the dreadful misfortunes of sin. . . .
I most humbly recommend to thee this country
[the United States], with that which was so dear
to thee while on earth."*

To rescue the true Patrick from the hands of
such Romanists, who insult God by adoring a good
man, is a work that needs to be done. If the
present attempt shall aid in such a result ; if it be
shown that they have no sort of claim to him ; if
the reader shall find evidence that he was a zealous
missionary, who sought to win souls to Christ, and
that, with all his errors, he was nevertheless one of
the greatest men of his age, and if anything shall
l>e found herein to kindle piety, — the effort may be
blessed.

The God of Joseph was the God of Patrick. In
the one case he permitted a Hebrew youth to be

* " The Golden Manual, being a Guide to Catholic devotion,
&c. With the approbation of the Most Kev. John Hughes,
Archbishop of New York." 1853.

SAINT PATRICK. 231

taken from his home, ami sold into Egypt for a
great purpose; in the other, he had a wise design
in so bringing i^ood out iii' evil that a British lad
was stolen In 11 n hi- parent- and -old into Ireland.
How dark wa- hi- providence to each of them in
his younger days! How hard then to n-ad his
goodnes- in the event, and yet how plain hi- i^lory
afterward ! Kach was a -lave. '• It is good for a
man that he hear the yoke in his youth. He
sittrth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath
borne it upon him. lie putteth his mouth in the
du-t : if BO be then- may be hope. lie giveth his
cheek to him that ,-mMeth him; he is filled with
n-pmaeh. F<»r the L.»rd will not cast off forever;
but though he ean-e urirt', vet will ho have com-
]»a--i«»n a'-«-i»nliii^ to the multitude of his mercie8iW<
Maeh «if the-c bond-men in a forei^,, ]:,n,l was ;l
di-camn- of -u«-h dn-am- a- < Jod B6nl f«»r good
toward a pe,.pl,-. ,1.,-i-ph i- h-d to provide abun
dant • !' eoni lor a timeot' lamiue — I'atriek
is led to bear th«- 'hr.-ail of eiernal lill- lo a |».-ople
1'ami-hiiiLr in -in. Kaeh -ee< the my-teri.-. of (i..d
(.pen with merei.-, and can thank him for the
\say- which were higher than hi- ways, and the
thought- which were above hi- thought-. Thi-

-'

232 SAINT PATRICK.

parallel may have struck the mind of Patrick, and
it is possible that he once used such words as are
put into his mouth by one of his biographers : " I
am here by the same Providence that sent Joseph
into Egypt to save the lives of his father and
brethren."

Still farther may we compare them. Joseph was
faithful to his master, and thus won the favour of
those who had the command of his services. Thus
it seems to have been with young Patrick. Such a
lesson should not be lost. Those who may be under
the bidding of severe and exacting employers may
gain their confidence by being faithful. This
qualifies them for a good influence. Character
speaks ; the light shines ; hardest hearts may be
touched, and God may be glorified.

The Lord who heard young Patrick's prayer
has never grown weary ; never has he turned away
his ear from the voice of the penitent, crying to
him night and day, amid sunshine and in stormiest
days ; never was he slumbering when the seeker
after God rose up to plead with him before the
dawn. Thus Patrick sought the Lord amid the
rains and snows and darkness ; he found the ever-
gracious Redeemer. Is anyone now so earnest?
Is any so devout ? Patrick, God is waiting for

SAINT PATRICK. 233

the voice of prayer. The young exile found him
a covenant -k< -cping God. To be born of Christian
parents, to have been dedicated to the Lord in
infancy, to be the child of prayers and tears, is a
great privilege. Such a one has the noble-t
lineage. Let every one thus favoured think of the
obligations that rest upon him. But grace is not
inherited by birth — not even from a father who is
a deacon, and a grandfather who is a presbyter.
On that -ucet--i<»n 1'atrick could not depend. He
mn-t remember his sins, repent, and accept the
grace <>f tin- covenant made for his uood, het\vr«-n
hi- pan-in- and their (ind, when he wa- baptized
and cMii-crrated to him. Who knows but that in
virtue of the .-i"ii the Lord granted to him the
thini:- -innilied '.' \\hn knows but that for the
sake of that covenant God remembered him in a
-trance land, turned tin; iron furnace into a sclionl
of prayer and piety, blessed him with the deliver
ance nf hi- -oul from >in, led him out of bonda-e
and re-tMi-.-d him to his father's house? \Vlm
know- but that hi- father and mother had often
besought the L-.rd to make their -«,n a preadiei- nf
the ir«.-j>el, like hi- 'jrandlat her '.' Tn-liap- it wa
in an-wer to their prayer- that Tafrick became a
mi.-.-ion;iry, so eminent in hi- day that lie stand"-

234 SAINT PATRICK.

f >rth as the type of a class of Christian heroes, who
plunged into deep forests and triumphed over the
forces of barbarism.

What kindles the missionary spirit ? What now
will induce young men to make an effort for the
salvation of the pagan world ? Just what led
Patrick to devote his life to the work — the love of
God and the sad condition of the heathen. The
one he had felt in his heart — the other he had seen
with his eyes. Think of him tending the flocks
on the hills, where he met not a man who knew of
his God, his gospel, his heaven or his eternity.
What a moral desert! Savage chiefs were ever
plotting war, and degraded clansmen rushing to
the fray. Barbarous revels were heard in the
castles, and the howling of the Druids in the oaken
forests. Bobbers were the freemen ; every child
might be carried away and sold as a slave. He
saw enough to sicken his heart. He pitied the
heathen of Ireland, and no man will ever do his
duty to the pagan world unless he is touched with
a like compassion. You need not visit the heathen
land ; the picture of its woes may come in the next
Christian magazine. An hour's study may waken
the pity that will kindle the spirit to lend the
needed aid. Patrick went himself A world of

SAINT PATRICK. 235

work was before him. The mode of beginning it
was simple; the courage to begin at all was sublime.
But he pitied men, he prayed to God, he went

everywhere preaching the \\'<>nl, with love to sin
ners and an enthu.-iasm for Christ. There never
was a harder field for labour. " There never was
a nobler mi-sinnary than Patrick." There never
was such a eivili/ing power as ( 'hristianity.

\\V -uivly may think of Patrick as a man who
first entered Ireland as a slave, but who died in it
a victor. Erin never knew his like. No other
name was ever so stamped upon that island and
her people. It is the very synonym of an \v\>\\-
inan; NSC expect him ti> an.-wer to it. It is Ireland's
e. impliment to her ^n -a test Christian teacher. The
Iri.-h mother who gives it to her son bestows
mure real honour upon the memory of Saint
Patrick than i- rendered in all the prayers offered
to him l>v the multitude <>{' people who swear bv
hi- name and hold him a- a guardian saint. We
would re- tore \\\< character, and rememl>er him as
a man who was 1'iivd with the ini--i«mary .-pirit ;
who braved the seas in hi- little boat and landed
amonur -tranirer- ; who walked up from the shore
to offer to the barbarian- the greatest gift of
heaven; who gat In-red alxuit him Ji litt le circle of

236 SAINT PATR ICK.

listeners, and moulded them into different men ;
who overthrew great idolatries, and raised the true
cross of Jesus where had stood the altars of the
Druids. His sphere enlarged. He stood before
courts ; he travelled through the counties. He
dictated reforms to the monarch on the throne, and
sought liberty for the menial beneath the thatch.
He set on foot a system of schools, in which were
reared kings for the crown, ministers for the State,
Christian bards to make a nation's songs, and wise
men to frame her laws, pastors for the gathering
flocks and missionaries to foreign lands. In no
small degree he changed the State and reared the
Church. He put in motion the forces of a Chris
tian civilization, no doubt taking up the measures
which the Culdees had introduced before him, in
fusing a new spirit into their system, and bringing
out of their secluded cells the light that was meant
to shine forth into the broad world.

In such a man we ought to find much to imitate.
Not faultless, not free from certain errors of his age,
not a Paul of the first century, not a Judson of the
nineteenth ; yet he shared largely in the traits of
an apostle and the devotion of a missionary. To
preach Christ to the heathen was his great idea and
purpose. With him the gospel was not simply a

SAINT PATRICK.

revelation of God's love to himself; not a gift
which he could accept for himself alone, and retreat
into some remote corner to study and cherish ; it
was a proclamation. It was something to be pub
lished, to In- t«>M everywhere, and to be urged upon
the dullest ear and the hardest heart. He would
be its herald, giving it forth to all men with a
generous hand.

To live for Christ, as he thought, was not to be
a monk ; it was to be a missionary. This was his
character. We doubt whether there was one other
missionary in the fifth century who was his equal —
one other so unresting, so ardent, so enthusiastic
for souls, so stout in rough trials, and so anxious
to lilt up his voice in wilds where the name of
.Jesus liad never been uttered. We doubt whether
tin- example of any other man in that age did
iiion- to tin- the hearts of young men with the mis
sionary .-pirit. It was the burning coal in the
Irish Church. When he was gone, an host of
ers arose, not to light a torch at tin- kin/-
Maine, and run over the hills with " the firry n
of tbe Dmids, but to touch Patrick'- hnrnin^odil
with their lip<, and hasten afar with the name of
Chri-t to the peri-hin^. I>e«pite the tendency in
Irishmen to become monks, no other laud in that

238 SAINT PA TRICK.

age sent forth more missionaries. Ireland then
excelled Rome in the work of publishing the gos
pel. Hear one of them of the ninth century,
Claude Clement, who is said to have founded the
University of Paris under Charlemagne, and then
gone into Northern Italy. He says: "When I
came to Turin, I found all the churches full of
abominations and images ; and because I began to
destroy what every one adored, every one began to
open his mouth against me. They say, < We do
not believe there is anything divine in the image ;
we only reverence it in honour of the individual
whom it represents.' I answer, If they who have
quitted the worship of devils, honour the images
of saints, they have not forsaken idols — they have
only changed their names ; for whether you paint
upon a wall the pictures of St. Peter or St. Paul,
or those of Jupiter or Mercury, they are now
neither gods, nor apostles, nor men. The name is
changed : the error continues the same. ... If
the cross of Christ ought to be adored because he
was nailed to it, for the same reason we ought to
adore mangers, because he was laid in one; and
swaddling-clothes, because he was wrapped in
them. We are not ordered to adore the cross, but
to bear it, and deny ourselves. Shall we not be-

SAINT PATRICK. 239

lievc (lod when he BWMUTB that neither Noah, nor
Daniel, nor Job shall deliver son or daughter by

their riuhtcoiiHH — : for this end he makes the de
claration, that none might put confidence in the
intercc— ion of the .-aints."* This learned and
zealous man may have imitated Saint Patrick, but
he did not \vor.-hip him. He swept out of the
obnrchee of Piedmont the Roman novelties, and
aided i he ancient \\aldenses in bringing the people
hack t.i the old religion of apo.-tolie days.

A late Roman Catholic author, ashamed of the
puerilities of Joceline, and yet anxious to set forth
Patrick as the "patron Saint of the Emerald Isle,"
if not of all America, says of him, in about the
best passage of his book : " He found it a task
miieh more arduous to reform the heart and root
out |ia^aui-m and vice, when fortified by custom
and long habits; but his constant application to
the great \\ork, \i'^ patience, hi.- humility and in
vincible courage, conquered all opposition. Divine
Providence .... endued thN cliampion of the gos
pel with all the natural <|iialitie- which were re-
«|ui-ite for the function^ of an apoMle. Ill* -enius
WM Miblime and capable of the designs;

hi.- heart fearh-> ; hi- charity was not confined to

A ne. Iri«h.

240 SAINT PATRICK.

words and thoughts, but shone out in works and
actions, and extended itself to the service of his
neighbours, to whom he carried the light of the
gospel."*

We close in harmony with the final sentence
of the Confession : " I pray those who believe
and fear God, and who may condescend to look
into this writing, which Patrick the sinner, an un
learned man, wrote in Hibernia, if I have done or
established any little thing according to G»d's will,
that not a man of them will ever say that my ig
norance did it ; but think ye and let it be verily
believed that it was the gift of God."

* Life of St. Patrick, published by Murphy, 1861.

THE END.

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